Israeli leaders delayed the release of more than a hundred Palestinians as agreed over concerns with how the eight Israeli hostages were released earlier on Thursday.
Seven of the eight hostages were released from Khan Younis. As they were handed over to the Red Cross, videos showed a chaotic scene unfolding with the hostages surrounded by armed militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based terrorist organization.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the scenes as “shocking.”
“This is additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization,” he said in a statement. “I demand that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur and guarantee the safety of our hostages.”
His office said in a subsequent statement that he and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the release of the Palestinian prisoners, 110 of them slated to be released in connection with the release of the hostages, to be delayed.
The Hamas Prisoners Media Office said the 110 Palestinians expected to be released include 30 children, 32 individuals sentenced to life imprisonment, and 48 prisoners with lengthy sentences, according to Anadolu Agency.
The eighth hostage, a female Israeli soldier named Agam Berger, was released without the same chaos from northern Gaza.
Hamas released five Thai hostages: Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak. The other hostages Hamas released were Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Moshe Mozes, 80.
As a part of the current ceasefire negotiations, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, with Israel agreeing to release 30 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for one Israeli civilian hostage and 50 for every female IDF soldier during this phase of the hostage deal, which will last for six weeks.
Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 others during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that reshaped the Middle East. Israel and Hamas agreed to a short-lived ceasefire in November 2023, in which about half of the hostages were released.
Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas has devastated the Gaza Strip. Roughly 45,000 people have been killed during the war, including about half of whom were civilians. Israel has killed several of Hamas’s senior leaders and destroyed much of their ranks. Most of the population is now struggling to have access to basic care and humanitarian needs.
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Israel has sought to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and prevent it from governing Gaza the way it had before the Oct. 7 attack, but its show of force as it released the hostages shows that Israel has not completely eradicated the group.
Israeli officials have said they want the right to restart the war following the completion of the six-week deal, while Hamas wants the war to end permanently, which could allow them the chance to regroup.