Israel delays Palestinians’ release

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that freeing Palestinian prisoners under the Gaza ceasefire deal will be delayed until Hamas ends its “humiliating ceremonies” while releasing Israeli hostages.

“In light of Hamas” repeated violations — including the disgraceful ceremonies that dishonor our hostages and the cynical use of hostages for propaganda — it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

The delay will last “until the release of the next hostages is ensured, without the humiliating ceremonies,” it added.

Israel had been expected to free more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.

Families of Palestinian prisoners had waited with uncertainly into the night on Saturday, hoping for their release.

The Palestinian militant group called the move a “blatant violation” of the truce deal, the first phase of which is to expire in early March.

Since the ceasefire’s first phase began on 19 January, Hamas has released 25 living Israeli hostages in ceremonies before crowds at various locations in Gaza.

In the seventh such transfer, Hamas released six Israeli captives on Saturday but Israel put off releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

The six Israelis released Saturday were the last group of living hostages set to be freed under the truce’s first phase.

At a ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, hostages Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Israeli-Argentine Omer Wenkert, 23, waved from a stage, flanked by masked Hamas militants, before being transferred to the Red Cross.

Under the cold winter rain in Rafah, southern Gaza, militants handed over Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, who both appeared dazed.

The sixth hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, was later released in private and taken back to Israeli territory, the military said.

Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim, and Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, had been held in Gaza for about a decade after they entered the territory individually.