Hamas is urging Israel to include key Palestinians in a list of prisoners to be released as part of a ceasefire agreement that would see hostages return from Gaza.

Hamas’s stance came after the Israeli Justice Ministry released the names of 250 prisoners to be released but excluded seven high-profile prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

The men, who are serving prison sentences for their role in numerous deadly attacks in Israel, have long been viewed by Palestinians as symbols of resistance.

The 20 Israeli hostages are expected to be released by 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on Monday as part of a deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that US envoy Steve Witkoff had promised to raise the issue of excluding Palestinian prisoners with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel has steadfastly refused to include them.

It is unclear whether this will become a sticking point or affect the timetable for the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

The releases would come under the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage return deal approved by Trump this week to end two years of war in Gaza.

It is unclear how the hostages will be released this time – Hamas has repeatedly displayed hostages in public before, angering Israel and many of its Western allies.

The bodies of deceased hostages will also be returned. At least 26 hostages are believed to be dead and two others are missing.

Israel will also release about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, as well as another 1,700 Gazan Palestinians detained.

Hamas submitted a list of prisoners it wished to release, including Barghouti and Sadat.

Barghouti was sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years in prison for planning an attack in 2004 that killed five civilians.

Opinion polls consistently show that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader and that Palestinians will vote for him in a presidential election ahead of current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas or the Hamas leader.

Barghouti remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction that controls the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank that are not under Israeli control.

Sadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2008 for leading an “illegal terrorist organization” and participating in attacks, including the 2001 assassination of an Israeli minister.

Among the 250 prisoners to be released is Islamic Jihad commander Iyad Abu al-Rub, who was convicted of plotting suicide bombings in Israel in the early 2000s that killed 13 people.

He will be released to Gaza or deported, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Hamas is also pushing for the release of some possible additional prisoners, the BBC understands. The incidents involved Palestinian prisoners who were released years ago as part of the exchange for hostage Gilad Shalit and then rearrested after 7 October.

Hamas argued that because they were part of a previous hostage exchange, they should not be included in the 250-person figure.

The first phase of a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas deal came into effect on Friday, with Israeli troops partially withdrawing from parts of Gaza. Hundreds of rescue trucks are now expected to come in every day. The next phase is still under negotiation.

Israel’s war on Gaza was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.

Since then, 67,682 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Hamas health ministry said.