Zein Khalil and Mohamed Majed
13 February 2025•Update: 13 February 2025
GAZA CITY, Palestine
Hamas condemned a decision by Israel on Wednesday to deport three Palestinian prisoners who were released as part of a recent prisoner swap.
The group condemned the deportations, which also involved their family members.
“The Israeli decision to deport prisoner Tasnim Odeh, prisoner Mohammad Abu Halwa and freed prisoner Zeina Barbar, who was released in the latest prisoner exchange, along with their families from Jerusalem, is a barbaric and unjust decision,” it said in a statement.
The group added that the decision was part of a broader Israeli strategy to “empty the holy city of its people” and further “Judaization and settlement expansion plans” in Jerusalem.
The Israeli decision came amid a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,200 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.
On Wednesday, Israeli Army Radio reported that Interior Minister Moshe Arbel had ordered the deportation of three Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem, including a freed prisoner and a current detainee, claiming they were relatives of what Israel calls “terrorists.”
The report said that one of those affected by the deportation order was Zeina Barbar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was released to East Jerusalem as part of the current exchange.
According to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily, the decision also included Tasnim Odeh and Mohammad Abu Halwa.
The newspaper said the three individuals, in addition to being related to Palestinians involved in attacks against Israeli targets, had previously expressed support for Palestinian organizations.
“I decided to exercise my authority under the law and work to expel three supporters of terrorism, who are relatives of attackers and chose to stand with the enemy during wartime and support the harm of Israeli citizens,” Arbel said.
In November, Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, passed a law allowing the government to deport the relatives of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israeli targets “if they were aware of or supported the attacks, even symbolically.”
