(JNS) The Arab terrorist who murdered dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Ari Fuld at the Gush Etzion Junction in Judea in 2018 is expected to be released later this week as part of the hostage deal with the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, the victim’s brother confirmed on Wednesday.
“It is now official. The terrorist who murdered Ari (my older brother) six years ago will soon be free,” tweeted Hillel Fuld, confirming a report by Israel’s Ynet outlet that the life sentence of Khalil Jabarin would be commuted in one of the upcoming exchanges under the hostage agreement.
“Ari saved lives in his life. He saved lives in his death. And now he is saving lives after he is gone,” Hillel Fuld wrote in a subsequent post.
Eitan Fuld, brother of Ari, expressed his family’s deep pain upon learning through the media that Ari’s killer would be freed.
“Since I heard the news, I have felt a very heavy weight in my chest, and it is making me ill. When I received this news and passed it to my parents, my father told me, ‘It is not just our family’s murderer, but a more general event, and if this is what the State of Israel decided, whether I agree with the decision or not, then we will accept the decision,’” he told Yediot Achronot.
“We are certainly happy about every hostage who returns home, like the rest of Israel is,” Eitan said. “The most enormous pain regarding the release of our Ari’s murderer is not a pain only about the loss of justice, and not only about the fact that he ruined our family, but mostly about the families who will suffer from the mass release of these prisoners.”
Eitan continued: “I am pained ahead of time from the funerals, which I know I will go to as a bereaved brother, because the terrorists will return to terror and murder Jews and Israelis. It is an inconceivable pain which accompanies me daily. These are two parallel lines that do not meet—a line of infinite happiness and a line of infinite pain.”
Jabarin, 23, is scheduled to be deported and permanently banned from re-entering Israeli territories, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry.
In the current first phase of the truce, Hamas agreed to free 33 hostages, while Jerusalem agreed to commute the sentences of some 2,000 terrorists, including many convicted of deadly attacks. So far, 24 hostages have been released in exchange for 1,135 prisoners.
Hamas agreed to double to six the number of hostages scheduled to be freed as part of the upcoming seventh release on Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced on Tuesday evening.
In addition, the bodies of four hostages murdered in Hamas captivity will be handed over on Thursday in line with the ceasefire deal, which stipulates that the remains must be returned on the 33rd day of the truce.
According to official estimates, 73 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza after 500-plus days, including 70 abducted during the Hamas-led cross-border terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. This figure includes the remains of at least 35 hostages confirmed dead by Israeli security agencies.
