Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar presented data to the ministers in the security cabinet on Friday, stating that “82% of those released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 returned to terrorism,” and that 15% of them carried out attacks themselves after their release in the deal, or planned the attacks.
Gilad Schalit was released after five years of Hamas captivity in 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack.
Schalit was captured in 2006 when several Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and attacked IDF positions near the border crossing at Kerem Shalom, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding four others.
Bar said many of those released prisoners engaged in violent activities, such as contributing to terrorist funds as well as aiding and providing information to terrorist groups.
He also said that the current release of terrorists is expected to increase the motivation to carry out attacks in the West Bank, Israeli media reported.
The Shin Bet head said that the danger does not necessarily stem from the actual terrorists being released as part of the deal but from the atmosphere that will be created in the West Bank as a result, which will make terror organizations want to attain additional “achievements.”
Bar noted that for this reason, the IDF must increase activity against terrorists and terror infrastructure in the West Bank in parallel with the implementation of the deal, according to Maariv.
IDF Lt.-Gen. Maurice Hirsch told The Jerusalem Post this week that “by 2014, 50% of those released in Judea and Samaria... returned to terrorism.”
Instances of detaining terrorists released in the Shalit deal
Instances of engaging terrorists who were released in the Shalit deal include one that occurred in June 2014, in which two suspects, Ziad Hassan Awad and his son Izz al-Din Ziad Hassan Awad – the former having been released in the deal – were detained by Israeli forces for their involvement in a shooting attack that happened on Seder night that killed a police officer.
A year prior, in May 2013, the Shin Bet detained Hamas operative Bakr Atallah Samih Sa’ad, who had planned to carry out terrorist attacks, after an investigation revealed that he went to Jordan to meet with Hisham Abd al-Qader Ibrahim Hijaz, another Hamas terrorist operative who was released in the deal.
Hijaz was responsible for the deaths of 10 Israeli civilians and soldiers before his arrest. He was serving 10 life sentences before being released in the deal.