Three liberated Palestinian prisoners assassinated in Gaza by “Israeli” genocidal forces

On Thursday, 3 July 2025, Zionist occupation forces assassinated three liberated prisoners who had been released by the Resistance in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange in 2011, in the massacre at the Mustafa Hafez School:

• Mahdi Omar Shawar al-Tamimi, from al-Khalil
• Ayman Yousef Ahmad Abu Daoud, from al-Khalil
• Bassam Abu Sneineh, from Jerusalem

All three, originally from the West Bank of occupied Palestine, had been deported to Gaza. While Mahdi Shawar al-Tamimi and Bassam Abu Sneineh were deported to Gaza upon their liberation in 2011, Ayman Abu Daoud was originally freed to al-Khalil. However, in 2012, he was re-arrested by the occupation regime, which then declared in 2013 that it would re-impose his original sentence upon him. He launched a hunger strike and was deported to Gaza at that time, two years after the initial prisoner exchange.

Mahdi Shawar was arrested by the occupation in 2002 and sentenced to 21 years in prison, one of the many prisoners of the Al-Aqsa Intifada; he was liberated by the Resistance in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange. After he was forcibly displaced to Gaza, he obtained a degree in journalism and media from the Islamic University of Gaza, and then a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from Al-Azhar University in Gaza.

Ayman Abu Daoud, from al-Khalil, was born in 1982. Arrested in 2004, he was sentenced to 36 years in occupation prisons for participating in the resistance during Al-Aqsa Intifada before he was liberated on 18 October 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange.

He was abducted only a few months later, on 13 February 2012 and imprisoned by the occupation and accused of “violating the terms of his release” for allegedly providing money to Palestinians affiliated with political parties, despite attending mandatory check-ins with occupation forces and not leaving his district. He launched a hunger strike on 14 April 2013 after the occupation declared it was reimposing the remaining 29 years of his prison sentence, which continued until 23 May 2013 when his lawyer arranged an agreement for him to be exiled to Gaza for 10 years; he was forcibly deported three months later.

Bassam Abu Sneineh, from Jerusalem, was born in 1973 in Palestine’s capital, the holy city; he was sentenced in 2000 to life imprisonment for killing a settler in a resistance operation. After his liberation in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange and his exile to Gaza, he spoke frequently about Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the need for their liberation, focusing on cultural and educational work to preserve the image and commitment to Jerusalem for generations of Palestinians in Gaza who had never seen their capital due to the ongoing occupation, siege and blockade. He was a frequent guest on multiple television programs, especially speaking about occupation attacks on Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Later on Thursday, 3 July, imperialist-funded and -backed Zionist occupation forces in al-Khalil invaded the family homes of both Mahdi Shawar al-Tamimi and Ayman Abu Daoud. The next day, a large troop of occupation forces surrounded the Shawar family home and prevented them from receiving condolences on their son’s martyrdom.

Also on Friday, 4 July, occupation forces invaded the Wadi al-Hariyya neighborhood of al-Khalil, attacking the mourning tent that had been set up by the family of Ayman Abu Daoud. They destroyed the contents of the tent, tearing down posters and banners, smashing chairs and fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters at the mourners, abducting 15 Palestinians from the mourning tent.

Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, issued a statement on the assassination, noting that it was a targeted attack on the prisoners:

As we mourn the martyrs Mahdi Shawar, Ayman Abu Daoud, and Bassam Abu Sneineh, who were freed in the “Wafa al-Ahrar” exchange in 2011 and were forcibly deported to the Gaza Strip, we affirm that the occupation’s crime of assassinating them and those who preceded them from the martyrs of the prisoners’ movement and the liberated prisoners is a desperate attempt to eliminate national symbols and break the will of our people and their adherence to the path of resistance.

We affirm that the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain and will remain fuel for the continuation of the resistance until freedom is achieved and the occupation is defeated, regardless of the cost and sacrifices.

The Prisoners’ Media Office issued a statement mourning the martyrs and highlighting their assassination:

The office pointed out that this crime comes within a systematic policy followed by the occupation in targeting liberated prisoners, especially those who gained their freedom in exchange agreements, through repeated assassinations aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people and striking their national symbols.

The Prisoners’ Information Office held the occupation fully responsible for the assassination of the three martyrs, stressing that their blood will not go in vain, and will remain a beacon for the resistance and a pledge to continue the struggle until freedom and salvation from the occupation.

Similarly, the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the Prisoners’ Movement issued a statement:

Since the beginning of the genocide, the occupation has escalated its targeting of liberated prisoners and deportees to Gaza through systematic assassinations.

It’s worth noting that the occupation has never ceased targeting prisoners, whether those released in exchange deals or those who spent years in prison and were released after completing their sentences in Gaza and the West Bank. This targeting has taken the form of assassinations, executions, and repeated arrests. A large percentage of those targeted during these arrest campaigns were former prisoners who had spent years in occupation prisons.

The Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange, conducted on 18 October 2011, liberated 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from occupation prisons in exchange for Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit, imprisoned by the Resistance in Gaza. Among those released in the exchange were the martyred resistance leader and later head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar; Hussam Badran; Ahlam Tamimi; Zaher Jabarin; Nael Barghouti; Samer Issawi; and many others. Many of the liberated prisoners were targeted for re-arrest and their original sentence re-imposed, and were only freed again — and deported outside Palestine — in the Toufan al-Ahrar prisoner exchange as part of the January-March 2025 ceasefire in Gaza.

The liberated prisoners — particularly those freed in exchanges with the Palestinian resistance — have been a particular target for assassination and execution throughout the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank and throughout occupied Palestine. By assassinating liberated prisoners, the occupation aims to deprive Palestinians of national leaders and symbols of struggle, as well as attempting to instill despair at the potential to liberate prisoners — and indeed, Palestine itself — through the resistance and armed struggle.

The liberated prisoners represent the continuity of struggle, as generation after generation fights for total liberation. As the prisoners inside occupation prisons are being targeted for “slow killing” — assassinations carried out through torture and the denial of medical care — the liberated prisoners are being targeted for assassination in an effort to expedite the genocide and deprive the Palestinian people of their leaders and defenders.

Every imperialist power that continues to arm, fund and support the Zionist regime — the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Canada, etc. — is responsible for these ongoing crimes in full. We urge all supporters of Palestine to act, confront those responsible, and escalate all actions to bring the genocide to an end, impose accountability on those responsible, free all Palestinian prisoners — and, fundamentally, defeat and dismantle zionism and the zionist regime, for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.