Israel releasing 2,000 prisoners, before return of slain hostages

Hamas has yet to hand over the bodies of 28 murdered captives, but Israel decided to start releasing terrorists from its detention facilities.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel has begun releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its detention facilities after all living hostages were freed, despite Hamas still failing to return the bodies of 28 deceased captives.

Israel had initially vowed to release detainees only after receiving and positively identifying the remains of the slain hostages. However, an IDF spokeswoman confirmed to The Times of Israel that the government decided to proceed with the prisoner release once the living captives safely returned to Israel.

Footage circulating on social media showed buses carrying prisoners departing from Ofer Prison, a military detention facility north of Jerusalem in Samaria.

Among those released Monday are 250 convicted terrorists serving life sentences for murdering Israelis. According to Hebrew-language media reports, 135 of those convicts will be deported to third countries, while 101 are expected to return to Palestinian Authority-controlled municipalities in Judea and Samaria.

Fourteen of the released prisoners will reportedly return to their homes in eastern Jerusalem.

In addition, some 1,718 Gazans detained in Israel since October 7 are being freed from Ketziot Prison in the southern Negev and bussed back to the Gaza Strip.

Notably, Israel has not prosecuted a single Gazan who infiltrated the country on October 7, despite pressure from the United States to do so. Many of the released Gazans were suspected of involvement in the atrocities of that day but were never formally charged or convicted of terror offenses.

Israel expects that the bodies of the 28 murdered hostages will be handed over to the Red Cross later today, though forensic identification could take several days.

Late Sunday evening, one Palestinian prisoner scheduled for release violently assaulted a female prison guard, injuring her. The assailant was subdued by other guards, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that the prisoner would no longer be released. Another inmate will reportedly be freed in his place.