Targeting of released Jerusalemite prisoners in Gaza: Five martyrs since the beginning of the war
The Israeli occupation authorities continue to target Jerusalemite prisoners who were released as part of the 2011 Wafaa al-Ahrar (Shalit) deal and deported to the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, they have assassinated five of these released prisoners.
According to documentation from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem, the occupation assassinated the brothers Abdul Nasser and Tariq al-Halisi, from the town of Silwan, along with their wives and children (12 individuals), in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The two brothers were arrested on October 16, 1986, and sentenced to life imprisonment before being released as part of the Wafaa al-Ahrar deal and deported to Gaza Strip, where their martyrdom was announced.
In November 2023, the former prisoner Mohammad Hamada, from the village of Sur Baher, was targeted. He had been arrested in August 1997 and sentenced to 28 years in prison, serving 14 years before being released and deported to Gaza.
In January 2024, Jinan Abu Sneineh, the daughter of former prisoner and deportee Shuaib Abu Sneineh from the town of Silwan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip. Shuaib had been arrested in 1998 from the town of Silwan, sentenced to life imprisonment, and later released in the same deal.
In April 2024, Zakaria Najib, from the Old City of Jerusalem, was martyred. He was arrested in 1994 on charges of participating in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released as part of the Shalit deal and deported to Gaza.
The most recent victim was freed prisoner Bassam Abu Sneineh, from the Old City of Jerusalem, who was martyred in June 2025. He had been arrested in 2000 on charges of carrying out a stabbing attack in which a settler was killed in the Old City and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In all of the above cases, the Israeli occupation authorities in Jerusalem prohibited the establishment of mourning tents for martyrs, threatened family members with arrest if they organized any gatherings, and raided the homes of some to prevent them from setting up mourning tents or displaying pictures of their sons who were killed in the Gaza Strip.
