# The most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, is not among the prisoners Israel intends to free in exchange for hostages, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. The 66-year-old is a leader of Hamas’s main political rival, Fatah, and widely seen as a potential successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, who runs the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Senior official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that Hamas insists on the release of Barghouti, but Israel views him as a terrorist.
Israel rejects freeing most popular Palestinian leader held as hostage