Israel has delayed the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners after Hamas reportedly violated the cease-fire deal.
“In light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Prisoners were supposed to be released on Saturday, the same day Hamas returned six Israeli hostages, and days after Hamas returned four deceased hostages.
Hamas has repeatedly staged hostage-release productions, subjecting Israeli civilians who have been in Gaza for longer than 500 days, to public propaganda ceremonies commemorating their time in captivity. Hamas routinely hands out medals and certificates to hostages who survived captivity before passing them off to the Red Cross.
This week, Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu were transferred to the Red Cross in Rafah, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert were released in central Gaza, and Hisham al-Sayed was released from Gaza City. Al-Sayed and Mengistu were captured by Hamas years ago; the other four hostages were captured during Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Five of the six recently released hostages were subject to Hamas’s public ceremonies. Two hostages still in captivity, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, were forced to watch the ceremony from a car. Hamas later posted a propaganda video of the men begging to be freed.
“They forced them to watch their friends being released and then returned them to the tunnels,” the families of David and Gilboa-Dalal said. “There is no greater cruelty.”
In one of the most egregious of these ceremonies, Hamas paraded around four coffins on a stage, two of which held the bodies of the youngest hostages Ariel (4) and Kfir (10 months) Bibas, and one of which contained the body of a random woman Hamas claimed to be the boys’ mother, Shiri. Hamas returned Shiri’s body one day later, only after Israel forensics experts determined that the first body Hamas handed over was not hers.
The six hostages released this week are the last living hostages Hamas agreed to return in phase one of the current cease-fire deal. Israel is demanding an end to Hamas’s fanfare before it releases more Palestinian prisoners. Fifty of the 602 inmates slated to be released are serving life sentences for attempting deadly attacks against Israelis.
Hamas said that Netanyahu’s decision “shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations.”
Sixty-three hostages remain in Hamas captivity.