A history of hostage and prisoner swaps in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
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It’s believed that more than 150 Israeli citizens and soldiers have been taken hostage since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel this Saturday.
Hamas said that it would kill a civilian hostage every time an Israeli airstrike hits Gazans “in their homes without warning.”
A senior Hamas official has said enough Israelis have been captured to secure the release of all Palestinian prisoners. There are currently 5,200 Palestinians behind bars in Israel, including 33 women and 170 children, according to Al Jazeera.
There have been several hostage rescue operations and prisoner exchanges throughout the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Early on, Israel responded with military-rescue operations. Palestinian militant groups changed their tactics in response, replacing large extortionist attacks with kidnappings wherein hostages were taken to secret hiding places, thus prohibiting Israel from carrying out rescue operations.
A few notable rescues and prisoner exchanges show this evolution.
Entebbe
On June 27, 1976, German and Palestinian hijackers took control of a flight carrying 247 passengers and 12 crew members from Israel to France. Eventually they diverted the flight to Uganda, where they held the hostages in the Entebbe International Airport. Their objective was to secure the release of 40 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel and 13 prisoners in four other countries. The non-Israelis among the hostages were released and flown to Paris.
On July 4, the Israeli military launched a rescue mission known as Operation Entebbe or Operation Thunderbolt. The operation left all the hijackers and at least 20 Ugandan soldiers dead. The only Israeli fatality during the operation was Yoni Netanyahu, brother to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who led the attack.
Coastal Road Massacre of 1978
In 1978, 11 members of the Palestinian nationalist Fatah group, formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, entered Israel and took control of two buses with 71 hostages on board. As with Operation Entebbe, Israel responded with a high-stakes rescue operation, which led to a 10-hour standoff. By the end, the hijackers had killed 38 of the hostages, including 13 children. Nine of the 11 hijackers were killed.
1982 Lebanon War
During the 1982 Lebanon War, Fatah kidnapped six Israeli infantry soldiers in Lebanon. In November 1983, the soldiers were exchanged for more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners.
Jibril Agreement of 1985
Named after Ahmed Jibril, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, the Jibril Agreement took nearly a year to negotiate. Under the agreement 1,150 Palestinian prisoners were swapped for three Israelis the group had kidnapped.
Gilad Shalit
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was taken hostage in 2006 by Hamas. He was freed five years later in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. At the time it was described as the “most lopsided prisoner swap in Israel's history.” Egypt brokered the deal.
In Israel, Shalit had become a “national obsession,” prompting Israel to bombard the Gaza Strip.
