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

Following a meeting of the security cabinet 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 said the release of the prisoners would be delayed until the release of the next group of hostages is guaranteed. 

“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 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 release of prisoners on Saturday would have been the largest release of terror prisoners in the current hostage-ceasefire deal, with 620 terror prisoners set to be released. 

At first, it appeared that the imprisoned terrorists would be released during the night. The prisoners had boarded the buses of the Nachshon units late 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 propaganda-filled hostage release ceremonies, Hamas increased the cruelty Saturday by sharing a video of two captives, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, watching their friends from captivity be released.

Hamas took the two hostages to the release ceremony, forced them to watch their companions being released, but did not release them. The terror group later shared the video of the two 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 Prime Minister Netanyahu of wanting to continue the war in order to avoid the criminal charges he is being tried for. 

“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 still slated to release the bodies of four more dead hostages as part of the first phase. Negotiations for the second phase were supposed to to have started 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 that 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 fighting 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.