The martyrdom of the Jerusalemite Riyad Assaileh and five freed prisoners in an Israeli attack on Gaza
In an ongoing targeting of released prisoners deported to the Gaza Strip, six freed Palestinian prisoners were martyred today as a result of Israeli shelling that targeted the tents of displaced persons in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis and the town of al-Zayda.
The Prisoners' Information Office reported that the martyrs are:
Riyad Assaileh from Jerusalem, Mahmoud Abu Saria from Jenin, Bilal Zara’ from Ramallah, Amjad Abu Arqoub from Hebron, and Mahmoud al-Dahbour from Nablus. All were released in the "Wafa al-Ahrar/Shalit" deal, in addition to Naji Abayat from Bethlehem, one of the deportees from the Church of the Nativity.
With the martyrdom of Riyad Assaileh, the number of Jerusalemite prisoners assassinated since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023 has risen to six. Today, just six days after the death of his friend and comrade-in-arms, Bassam Abu Sneineh, last week. The two prisoners were arrested together in 2000 for carrying out a stabbing attack that resulted in the death of a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem. They were sentenced to life imprisonment before being released in the "Wafa al-Ahrar" deal and deported to Gaza.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem documented the martyrdom of several freed Jerusalemite prisoners who were deported to the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war. They are:
• Brothers Abdel Nasser and Tarek al-Halisi from Silwan were killed in October 2023, along with their wives and 12 children, as a result of an airstrike on the Gaza Strip. They had been arrested on October 16, 1986, and sentenced to life imprisonment before being released in the Shalit deal.
• Mohammad Hamada from Sur Baher was targeted in November 2023. He had been arrested in 1997 and sentenced to 28 years in prison, 14 of which he served before being released and deported to Gaza.
• The child, Jinan Abu Sneineh, was killed in January 2024 as a result of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. She was the daughter of former prisoner and deportee Shuaib Abu Sneineh from Silwan, who had been arrested in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment, and was released as part of the same deal.
• Zakaria Najib, from the Old City of Jerusalem, was martyred in April 2024. He was arrested in 1994 on charges of participating in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman and sentenced to 25 years in prison before being released as part of a prisoner exchange deal and deported to Gaza.
• Bassam Abu Sneineh, from the Old City of Jerusalem, was martyred in June 2025. He was arrested in 2000 on charges of carrying out a stabbing attack in which a settler was killed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment before being released as part of a prisoner exchange deal and deported to Gaza.
