The October 2011 Prisoner Exchange Deal

On 11 October 2011, Israel and Hamas authorities concluded a deal whereby 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Palestinian prisoners were released in two stages, with 477 prisoners released on 18 October (click here for Addameer's photo gallery of the release) and the remaining 550 on 18 December.

 

Only 27 of the total 35 women held in Israeli prisons at the time of the exchange deal were included in the first list of prisoners to be released, despite agreement by Israel that all female political prisoners would be included in the exchange. Crucially, of the first 477 prisoners to be released, 205 of them were not reunited with their families as their release was made contingent on their deportation or transfer, both of which are in violation of international law. Click here to read Addameer and Al-Haq's statement on the terms of the prisoner exchange deal.

 

On 18 December, 550 prisoners were released in completion of the second phase of the exchange deal. Of the 550 prisoners released in this phase, all were released to their homes, however, only 6 of the 11 women in Israeli detention were included on the list of released prisoners. Click here to read Addameer's statement on this phase of releases.

 

 

 

The full list of the first 477 names published by the Israeli Prison Service is available in English and Hebrew. Below is an analysis of the 477 prisoners, providing information on the prisoners' background, place and condition of release, and arrest and sentencing. The analysis is also available in PDF format.

 

Gender	Number of prisoners
Men	450
Women	27

 

Origin	Number of prisoners
Gaza Strip	133 (132 men, 1 woman)
West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem)	290 (267 men, 23 women)
East Jerusalem	46 (45 men, 1 woman)
Golan Heights	1
Israel	7 (5 men, 2 women)

 

Political affiliation	Number of prisoners
Hamas	307
Fatah	99
Islamic Jihad	27
PFLP	24
DFLP	6
Other	14

Sentencing	Number of prisoners
One or more life sentences	278
41-82 years	7
31-40 years	30
21-30 years	97
11-20 years	51
1-10 years	10
Administrative detention	3 (all women)
Detained until conclusion of legal proceedings	1

 

Date of release	Number of prisoners
2011 (less than one year to serve)	4
2012 (1 year to serve)	9
2013 (2 years to serve)	4
2014 (3 years to serve)	4
2015 (4 years to serve)	5
2016 (5 years to serve)	8
2017 (6 years to serve)	5
2018 (7 years to serve)	8
2019 (8 years to serve)	7
2020 (9 years to serve)	4
2021 (10 years to serve)	9
2022-2031 (11-20 years to serve)	97
2032-2041 (21-30 years to serve)	31
2042-2051 (31-40 years to serve)	3
2052-2075 (41-64 years to serve)	1
Life	278

Gender	Number of prisoners
Men	544
Women	6

 

Origin	Number of prisoners
Gaza Strip	40
West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem)	506 (501 men, 5 women)
East Jerusalem	2 (1 man, 1 woman)
Jordan	2