One major figure that Hamas wanted was Ibrahim Hamid. As Ha'aretz reported in June:
Ibrahim Hamid, a senior Hamas military commander in the West Bank, planned and saw to the carrying out of a shooting in the West Bank a year ago despite being in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison for the past five years.There has been some controversy between the Fatah and Hamas press about whether Hamid's mother complained about her son not being released; apparently she did and turned around quickly when Hamas let her know their displeasure.
Hamid, from the West Bank town of Silwad, was arrested in May 2006. He was tried and convicted of being responsible for the deaths of 46 Israeli in suicide bombings in the early days of the second intifada. According to the Shin Bet security service, Hamid is, in fact, responsible for the deaths of 90 Israelis, and is considered a "groundbreaker in the field of strategic terror" and a "model" for other terrorists.
Hamas wants Hamid included among the Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for the release of Gilad Shalit, but Israel is adamant that he stay in jail.
Hamid has been in total isolation since his arrest. He was recently moved from Ayalon Prison to Hasharon Prison. With the exception of his attorneys, Hamid is barred from having visitors.
Last week, the Central District Court extended Hamid's solitary confinement by an additional six months in what has become a biannual event. Unclassified information submitted by the state to support its request to extend Hamid's isolation indicated the existence of recent intelligence "pointing to his involvement in planning, from prison, a shooting attack in which two Israelis were injured on September 1, 2010 at Rimonim Junction. [Hamid] constitutes a serious and extraordinary danger even from within prison."
Other Hamas leaders whom Hamas, for years, insisted be released and whom Israel refused to release include:
Hassan Salama. Head of Hamas' Jerusalem branch, responsible for two suicide bombings on the city's No. 18 bus in 1996 and for a suicide bombing in Ashkelon the same year.(source)
Abdullah Barghouti. Senior bombmaker for Hamas' military wing in the West Bank. He was convicted of planning terror attacks in which 66 Israelis were murdered and hundreds hurt, including the attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
He was sentenced to 67 life terms in 2003.
Abbas Sayid. Head of the Hamas military wing in Tul Karm. He was convicted of planning terror attacks in which 35 Israelis were murdered and hundreds hurt, including the attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002.
Sayid was sentenced to 35 life terms in 2006.
Mahand Sharim. Sayed's deputy, involved in planning the suicide attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002.
Ra'ad Hutri. One of the masterminds of the attack on the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, which killed 22 young Israelis. He was also involved in suicide attacks in Neve Yamin and at the Bar Ilan Bridge.
Jamal Abu al-Haiga. Hamas' leader in Jenin, sentenced to nine life terms for his involvement in suicide bombings at the Hadera Mall, at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. He also planned a number of other attacks from his home in Jenin.
Muath Bilal. Sentenced to 26 life sentences for the deaths of 26 Israelis. He was involved in suicide bombings at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem and on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in 1997.
Bahij Badr. Responsible for the death of 18 Israelis in suicide bombing in Tzrifin, at the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem and in south Tel Aviv.
Another prisoner who is not being released - and whose mother has taken ill because of it - is Issa Abed Rabbo, the longest serving prisoner, sentenced to life in 1984. I cannot find out his crime; pro-terror sites simply say that he was arrested for belonging to Fatah.
So it looks like most, if not all, of Israel's negotiating red lines were not crossed in this deal (at least so far.)
It is Hamas that caved, not Israel.