Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday threatened the recently released Palestinian prisoner and former terror chief Zakaria Zubeidi, days after Zubeidi was released as part of the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
“Zakaria Zubeidi, you were released in an agreement for the sake of freeing Israeli hostages — one mistake and you’ll meet old friends. We will not accept support for terrorism,” Katz wrote on X.
The post came as Israel on Saturday released 183 more Palestinian security prisoners, some 32 of whom were freed to the West Bank, after Hamas released three Israeli hostages amid the ongoing ceasefire in the Strip.
Zubeidi organized dozens of attacks during the Second Intifada while heading the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the West Bank city of Jenin. In 2021, he and five other prisoners tunneled out of a maximum-security prison in northern Israel, an escape that helped solidify Zubeidi’s image among Palestinians as a folk hero. All six were recaptured days later.
On Friday, following an Israeli warning, Palestinian officials canceled a large planned celebration in Ramallah for Zubeidi’s return.
Officers from the Civil Administration “conveyed unequivocal messages that said the IDF will show zero tolerance toward the planned event and asserted that if there is a gathering in honor of Zubeidi, it will be dispersed quickly and aggressively,” Israeli defense sources said.
When the former Jenin terror chief was released on Thursday, he was greeted in Ramallah by a jubilant crowd of hundreds of Palestinians, who hoisted him on their shoulders in celebration.
A crowd greets terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, former head of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, after his release as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as he arrives in Ramallah, in the West Bank, January 30, 2025. (Flash90)
In an interview with Sky News on Friday, the released prisoner said: “I believe in resistance that will lead us to freedom.”
Asked whether he would do anything differently if he could live his life again, he said: “My life is worthless without freedom. The world that has denied me my freedom, particularly Britain, France, and the US, must return what they have taken from me and my children. They are the ones who need to reconsider their mistakes, not me. They are the ones who have wronged us.”
On Saturday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement that with the releases of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, the military is “maintaining a high level of readiness across all fronts, with an emphasis on Judea and Samaria,” using a Biblical term for the West Bank.
According to Palestinians, 18 of the prisoners and detainees released by Israel on Saturday were serving life sentences. Over 100 were from the Gaza Strip, arrested after October 7, 2023, and being held without trial.
Thirty-two of the prisoners were released to the West Bank and one was deported to Egypt, while the remaining 150 were released to Gaza.
Israel released the prisoners shortly after the Hamas terror group handed over three Israeli civilians — Yarden Bibas, Ofer Calderon, and Keith Siegel — abducted on October 7, 2023, and held hostage for 484 days.
Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison amid a hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Seventy-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
So far, 13 Israeli hostages have been freed as part of the current deal, which mandates the release of 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” during its first 42-day phase, with fighting stopped in the Strip.
Five Thai hostages have also been freed outside of the framework of the agreement.
The releases on Saturday took the number of Palestinian prisoners set free under the deal so far to 583.
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