The Israel Prison Service on Wednesday unveiled the second list of prisoners set to be released as part of October’s exchange deal with Hamas for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. However, unlike the previous stage of prisoners in which a number of terrorists serving life sentences were released, the longest sentence being served in the latest prisoner list is 18 years.
The list of the 550 prisoners expected to be freed on Sunday was posted on the Israel Prison Service website. A large number of the latest group are being released back into the West Bank, with others going to Gaza and two to Jordan and two to east Jerusalem.
A number of the prisoners were set to be released within two years. The latest group is in addition to the more than 400 prisoners released in October—over 1000 prisoners in exchange for the one Israeli soldier. Shalit returned to Israel more than five years after he was kidnapped by Gaza terrorists in a cross-border raid.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, December 14, 2011)