Some of the Palestinian terrorists whose sentences were commuted by Israel as part of the U.S.-brokered agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip stayed at Egypt’s Renaissance Cairo Mirage City Hotel following their release, Israeli media reported on Saturday.
In a call with Kan News, the Cairo hotel initially denied that the former Palestinian prisoners were among its guests, claiming: “We only have customers here. I don’t check what each customer’s intentions are.”
However, when asked by the Israeli broadcaster if Mahmoud Issa, who founded the special kidnapping unit of Hamas’s military wing, was staying at the hotel, the representative answered in the affirmative.
Asked who was footing his bill, the representative answered, “Turks.”
Kan News reported that the former prisoners, who were deported by Israel due to the danger they pose to the public, were expected to be transferred out of Egypt in the near future. It was not immediately clear whether they were still staying at the hotel as of Sunday.
An undercover investigation by The Daily Mail published earlier on Saturday found that 150-plus terrorists freed as part of the deal were staying at the hotel, which is part of the Marriott International chain.
The Daily Mail said its reporters were able to book a hotel room without any warning of former security prisoners staying there at the same time.
The British daily documented several senior Hamas terrorists staying at the hotel, including Mahmoud Issa, who had been jailed since 1993 for his part in the murder of a Border Police officer; Samir Abu Nima, who was sentenced to life in jail for a 1983 Jerusalem bus bombing that killed six people including an 11-year-old child; and Muhammad Zawahra, who took part in a deadly February 2024 shooting near Ma’ale Adumim.
Others staying at the luxury hotel included Islamic State terrorist Izz a-Din al-Hamamrah, who recruited suicide bombers, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad bus bomber Samir Abu Nima, according to the Daily Mail.
Welcome to Hotel Hamas: 150 dangerous terrorists released by Israel under Gaza peace deal are staying at five-star luxury resort alongside unsuspecting Western tourists https://t.co/rdwTxJJkem
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) October 24, 2025
“Should you stay here and walk around the idyllic grounds, as the Daily Mail did, you will find that hateful eyes follow every step you take. None were more sinister than those of Issa, who sat menacingly sipping coffee on his poolside balcony, our movements never escaping his glare,” the report said.
The Daily Mail claimed that the released terrorist killers were slated to be moved to “nearby tourist destinations” including Qatar, Turkey and Tunisia, which it noted are “hugely popular with British holidaymakers.”
As part of the hostage deal, Jerusalem agreed to free 1,950 Palestinian security prisoners, including 1,700 Palestinians arrested since Oct. 7, 2023. Among them were 250 serving life sentences for deadly attacks.
David Mencer, a spokesman for Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office, told the Daily Mail on Saturday: “These men are terrorists, convicted of bombing buses, murdering students and kidnapping teenagers. Israel freed them not to reward evil but because we value human life above all.”
“A bitter price, but one our people have paid across the ages to reclaim kin from the hands of Jew-haters,” the government spokesman added.
