Israel indefinitely delays release of 620 Palestinian prisoners after Israeli hostages freed | Israel-Gaza war

Israel says the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.

The statement by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office came early Sunday as vehicles apparently carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, only to turn around and go back in.

The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the current Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.

Five of the six Israeli hostages freed Saturday had been escorted by masked, armed militants in front of a crowd – a display that the UN and others have criticized as cruel after previous handovers.

The Israeli statement cited “ceremonies that demean the dignity of our hostages and the cynical use of the hostages for propaganda purposes”. It was likely a reference to a Hamas video showing two hostages who have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.

Hamas had released the last six living hostages expected under the ceasefire’s first phase, with a week remaining in the initial stage.

Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the truce into further doubt.

The 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed included 445 men, 23 children aged 15 to 19, and a woman, all seized by Israeli troops in Gaza without charge during the war.

Also meant to be released are 151 Palestinians serving life or other sentences for attacks against Israelis. Almost 100 would be deported, according to the Palestinian prisoners’ media office.

A Palestinian prisoners’ rights association said they include Nael al-Barghouti, who spent more than 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.

Freed by Hamas on Saturday were three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel during the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack that triggered the 16-month war in Gaza. The two others had been held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.

Five were handed over in staged ceremonies that the Red Cross and Israel have condemned as cruel and disrespectful.

Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside Hamas fighters. A beaming Shem Tov, acting under duress, kissed two militants on the head and blew kisses to the crowd. All wore fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when abducted.

Cohen’s family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” and cheered.

“You’re heroes,” Shem Tov told his parents as they later embraced, laughing and crying. “You have no idea how much I dreamt of you.” His father, Malki Shem Tov, told public broadcaster Kan that his son had been held alone after the first 50 days and lost 17km (37lbs).

Earlier Saturday, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, had been freed. Mengistu, an Ethiopian Israeli, entered Gaza in 2014. His family told Israeli media he has struggled with mental health issues. Shoham, an Israeli Austrian, had been taken from Kibbutz Be’eri. His wife and two children were freed in a 2023 exchange.

Later, Israel’s military said Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, had been released. The Bedouin Israeli entered Gaza in 2015. His family has told Israeli media he was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Israel’s government did not respond to questions about the delay in releasing prisoners. Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal, with spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanou accusing the Israeli prime minister of “deliberately stalling”.

The hostage release followed a heartrending dispute when Hamas on Thursday handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother abducted with her two young boys. The remains were determined to be those of a Palestinian woman. Netanyahu vowed revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation”. Hamas suggested it had been a mistake.

Israeli forensic authorities confirmed a body handed over on Friday was that of Bibas. Dr Chen Kugel, head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, said no evidence had been found that Bibas and her children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Hamas has claimed. Kugel did not give a cause.

Hamas denied the Israeli military claim, based on forensic evidence and unspecified “intelligence”, that its militants had killed the children “with their bare hands”, calling it a lie aimed at justifying Israeli military actions against civilians in Gaza.

The ceasefire deal has paused the deadliest and most devastating fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, but there are fears the war will resume.

Hamas has said it will release four bodies next week, completing the truce’s first phase. After that, Hamas will hold more than 60 hostages – about half believed to be alive.

Talks on the ceasefire’s second phase are yet to start, but negotiations are likely to be more difficult.

Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu, with the backing of Donald Trump, says he is committed to destroying Hamas’s military and governing capacities and returning all hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population.

The October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died in the war.