Palestinian ex-prisoner hopes his son will also be freed in Israel swap

For Yusif Abu Maria, the looming Gaza hostage deal is especially personal. Not only is his son on a list of candidates of imprisoned Palestinians to be freed by Israel: It would be a replay of Abu Maria’s own release from jail almost 20 years ago.
The Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated agreement approved by Israel in the early hours of Wednesday will pause the war between Israel and Hamas militants for a few days, enabling the entry of more humanitarian aid to the ravaged Gaza Strip.
In the lull, Hamas will free 50 children and women who were among the some 240 people taken to Gaza during its Oct. 7 killing spree in south Israel. In return, 150 female inmates or teenaged males will be released from Israeli security prisons.
A list of 300 candidate prisoners published by Israel’s Justice Ministry includes Ubay Abu Maria, who was taken into custody this year, four months after his 18th birthday, and accused of belonging to the armed Islamic Jihad militant group.