Research Center: Palestinian Resistance Freed 87% of Life-Sentenced Prisoners Under the “Flood of the Free” Deal

The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies confirmed that the Palestinian resistance succeeded in freeing 87% of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment in Israeli prisons as part of the “Flood of the Free” (Toofan al-Ahrar) exchange deal and its successive phases.

According to Riyad al-Ashqar, the center’s director and researcher, 503 prisoners serving life sentences were released out of a total of 580 who had such sentences before the series of prisoner-exchange agreements. Many of these freed prisoners had spent more than 25 years behind bars, in addition to dozens serving long-term sentences exceeding 15 years.

Key Figures of the Deal

• 41 prisoners from the 2011 “Wafa al-Ahrar” exchange deal, who were later rearrested in 2014, were freed again. Many of them were old detainees who had spent decades in prison before their initial release.

• The first phase of the deal also freed 13 veteran prisoners detained before the 1993 Oslo Agreement, out of 22 total pre-Oslo detainees.

  • The remaining 9 prisoners include 7 from the 1948 occupied territories, Jumaa Adam from Ramallah, and Mahmoud Abu Kharbish from Jericho — both imprisoned since 1988.

Occupation’s Refusal and Negotiation Challenges

Al-Ashqar revealed that the Israeli occupation refused to release detainees from the 1948 territories and several senior leaders of the prisoners’ movement during the third phase of the exchange. The Palestinian negotiator, he said, “fought tough final-hour talks through mediators to pressure the occupation to free them, particularly those who had spent decades behind bars — but Israel refused, nearly derailing the agreement.”

Scope of the Exchange and Its Distinction

He added that what distinguishes the Flood of the Free deal, aside from the large total number of freed prisoners (3,985), is that it included prisoners from Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948 territories — encompassing veterans and those with long sentences across all Palestinian factions.
Notably, the deal secured the release of 2,718 prisoners from Gaza who were detained during the ongoing genocide war on the Strip.

Commitment of the Resistance to the Prisoners’ Cause

Al-Ashqar praised the Palestinian resistance for keeping the prisoners’ cause at the top of its national priorities, affirming:

“The resistance will not rest until the last prisoner is freed from the occupation’s prisons. What has been achieved so far is only one stage in a long struggle — a stage in which the resistance worked tirelessly to reach the best possible deal, even as its eyes remained on the war and the genocide crimes committed against our people in Gaza.”