Israeli government delays release of Palestinian terror prisoners over humiliation of released hostages

Following a meeting of the Security Cabinet on Saturday evening, the Israeli government announced its decision to indefinitely delay the release of Palestinian terror prisoners. 

In a statement released overnight, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced that the release of the prisoners would be postponed until the next group of hostages is confirmed for release.

“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,” the PMO statement read. 

Israelis have been increasingly infuriated over the handover ceremonies staged by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups during the hostage releases of the first phase, which often contain degrading propaganda against the Israeli government and the hostages themselves. 

The planned release of prisoners on Saturday would have been the largest under the current hostage-ceasefire deal, with 620 Palestinian prisoners, including those convicted of terrorism, set to be freed.

At first, it appeared that the imprisoned terrorists would be released during the night. The prisoners had boarded the buses late on Saturday morning, as the hostage releases were taking place. However, after the prisoners had already been on the buses for almost 13 hours, they were returned to the detention cells following the decision of the Security Cabinet. 

Besides the previous hostage release events, which featured Hamas propaganda, the terror group shared a separate video showing two Israeli captives, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, watching their friends from captivity being released.

Hamas brought the two hostages to the release ceremony, forcing them to watch their companions being released, but did not free them. The terror group later shared the video of the two men on its social media accounts. 

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement by refusing to release the prisoners. Senior Hamas official Zaher Jabarin said the group is “working with mediators in Qatar and Egypt to resolve the outstanding issues.” 

Jabarin also accused Netanyahu of continuing the war in order to avoid the criminal charges he is being charged with. 

“Netanyahu's interest is in continuing the war, because the alternative is for him to go to court,” Jabarin said. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas is slated to release the bodies of four more deceased hostages on Thursday as part of the first phase. Negotiations for the second phase were supposed to have begun earlier this month, however, the Israeli government delayed the start of talks, citing repeated Hamas violations.

Analysts say the Israeli government appears to be debating a decision to resume fighting. 

Hamas has already stated it will not release the remaining hostages without a lasting ceasefire and a full IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, even threatening to kill the hostages if the war resumes.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump, while working hard to continue the current hostage-ceasefire deal, recently stated that he would support an Israeli decision to return to fighting.