Israel released Yahya Sinwar among 1,000 prisoners in return for 1 soldier in 2011

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who was jailed in Israel from late 1980s, was released by the country with 1,026 other prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli soldier in 2011. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was kidnapped in 2006 in a raid that involved Sinwar's brother. Yahya's time in prison reportedly hardened his radical views and solidified his leadership within Hamas.