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Hamas-Israel prisoner swap -

In November 2023, more than a month after the horrific war broke out in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a four-day ceasefire was agreed allowing time for a long-awaited hostage swap. Hamas agreed to release 50 of the 240 hostages they took captive during their attack on Israel on October 7. In return, Israel agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children from their prisons, where more than 7,000 Palestinians are currently incarcerated. The tense swap was watched around the world. As the months pass, more hostages have been rescued from Gaza, while many have been killed by Israeli bombardment. It's estimated that there are still just over 100 hostages, but it's unclear how many are still alive. 

(Image: Al Qahera News/Reuters TV via REUTERS)

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The Brittney Griner Swap -

Ten months after first being detained by Russian authorities for having a marijuana vape cartridge in her possession, two-time Olympic champion and WNBA all-star Britney Griner was released into American custody on December 8, 2022.

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The Brittney Griner Swap -

She was released in exchange for Viktor Bout, a high-profile Russian arms dealer who has been in US custody since being caught during a sting operation in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008.

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An age-old tradition -

Indeed, prisoner swaps have long been a staple of tentative diplomacy during times of tension. Trades can be made for civilian lives, political prisoners, or, often, spies. Let's look at some of the most high-profile prisoner swaps in modern history.

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Operation Big Switch -

One of the final events of the Korean War was 1953's Operation Big Switch. This was a joint effort between North Korea and the United states to hand over all remaining prisoners of war.

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Operation Big Switch -

Operation Big Switch occurred on August 5, 1953, just weeks after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed by the United Nations, North Korea, and China.

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Operation Big Switch -

Operation Big Switch was one of the largest prisoner swaps in history, with North Korea giving up 12,773 POWs, and the United Nations giving up 75,823 prisoners.

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The Bridge of Spies -

One of the most famous prisoner swaps of the Cold War, of which there were many, took place on the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, which acted as a passage between East and West Germany.

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The Bridge of Spies -

The story that brought the USSR and the US to that tense moment on the bridge in 1960 is long and winding, starting 10 years earlier with the arrest of Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy. To everyone's advantage, Abel was saved from the death sentence, and was instead kept in custody until he could be of use. When American U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Powers (pictured) was shot down by the Soviets, Abel finally came in handy.

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The Bridge of Spies -

Without the leverage of having Abel, there's no way the United States would have gotten their man back. But with Abel in their custody, they were able to convince the USSR to conduct a prisoner swap on February 10, 1962.

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The Jibril Agreement -

There have been many prisoner swaps between Palestine and Israeli forces since the Israeli occupation began in 1948. One of the most controversial, and important, was the 1985 Jibril agreement, named after Ahmed Jibril (pictured), founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

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The Jibril Agreement -

In exchange for Jibril's release, among others, Israel received three Israeli soldiers, including Hezi Shai (pictured), who had been captured by resistance forces during the First Lebanon War.

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The Jibril Agreement -

Other leaders freed from Israeli custody included Ziyad al-Nakhalah, current leader of the PIJ terror group, and Imam Ahmed Yassin (pictured), who was considered the "spiritual leader" of Hamas until his assassination in 2004. All of these men are considered terrorists by Israel, making the decision for their release highly controversial.

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Spy-for-spy swap of 1986 -

On September 2, 1986, American journalist Nicholas Daniloff (pictured, waving) was arrested by KGB agents in Moscow on charges of espionage.

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Spy-for-spy swap of 1986 -

United States intelligence refuted the claim that Daniloff was a spy, and believed instead that his arrest was a direct retaliation of the US' own arrest of one Gennadi Zakharov (pictured, middle), a Soviet physicist who had been arrested attempting to buy classified aircraft information in a sting operation three days earlier.

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Spy-for-spy swap of 1986 -

After more than two weeks of heated discussions and plenty of finger-pointing between the two superpowers, Daniloff and Zakharov were exchanged on September 23.

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Operation Ghost Stories -

One of the most sensational stories of espionage and intrigue involved a group of 10 "sleeper agents" working for the Russian government, who were in deep cover posing as American citizens for, in some cases, decades.

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Operation Ghost Stories -

The members of the sleeper cell were arrested on charges of carrying out "long-term, deep-cover" operations in the US. They were given back to Russia in July of 2010, in exchange for four Russian dissidents who were jailed for high treason, including Igor Sutyagin (pictured), who collected information regarding Russian nuclear capabilities.

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Operation Ghost Stories -

The incredible story of the years-long investigation, known as Operation Ghost Stories, and the succeeding arrest and prisoner swap, was dramatized in the American television show 'The Americans.' The spy who received the most press coverage, Anna Chapman (pictured), returned to Russia to become an entrepreneur, runway model, and designer.

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The Cuban Five -

Five Cuban intelligence officers, known as the Cuban Five, were all arrested in Miami, Florida, in 1998 on espionage charges. Cuba eventually confirmed their status as intelligence agents, but not until 2001.

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The Cuban Five -

Cuba explained that the five agents weren't spying on American citizens, but were in fact spying on Cuban-American paramilitary groups in response to the deadly Havana bombings in 1997.

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The Cuban Five -

When the Cuban Five were traded for a CIA officer who had fallen into Cuban custody, they were welcomed back home as national heroes who suffered trying to protect their home from further terrorism. Many historians also consider this swap to be the beginning of easing tensions between Cuba and the United States.

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The Bergdahl exchange -

US Army soldier Dowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in 2009, after deserting his post in Afghanistan. It would be five years until he was finally released into United States custody.

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The Bergdahl exchange -

Bergdahl was given back in exchange for five high-profile Afghan prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, where they had been held without charges since 2002.

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The Bergdahl exchange -

Upon his return to the United States in 2014, Bergdahl was promptly put on trial for desertion. He was stripped of his rank and demoted to private, and was docked US$1,000 a month from his pay for 10 months.

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The Xiyue Wang exchange -

American citizen Xiyue Wang was arrested in 2016 by Iranian forces who charged him with espionage. Wang maintained his complete innocence up to and after his release in 2019.

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The Xiyue Wang exchange -

Originally sentenced to 10 years in prison, Wang was released into US custody after only three. He was exchanged for the Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani, who had been detained by the United States for breaking Iranian sanctions.

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The Trevor Reed exchange -

Ex-United States Marine Corps officer Trevor Reed was arrested in 2019 after a night of heavy drinking when he allegedly tried to attack a police officer in Moscow.

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The Trevor Reed exchange -

Reed was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, despite his vehement denial of ever assaulting a police officer. His family in the United States pressured the White House for years to demand Reed's release.

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The Trevor Reed exchange -

In April, 2022, Reed was released back to the United States and to his family in exchange for one Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and airline owner who was arrested by US agents in Liberia in 2010 for his part in a drug smuggling conspiracy.

Sources: (SPYSCAPE) (Grunge) (BBC)

See also: The world's most notorious spies

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