Prisoner releases indefinitely halted until hostage ceremonies stop

600 Palestinian prisoners waited on buses for hours before being told their release was delayed and they needed to return to their cells.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indefinitely delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners, including those who were expected to be released Saturday following the return of six living Israeli hostages, according to a government statement.

On Saturday, Hamas held two separate ceremonies in which they paraded five frail Israeli hostages in front of cheering crowds, ahead of their transfer to the Red Cross.

During one of the ceremonies, Omer Shem Tov, who was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival, was forced to kiss his captor on the forehead.

“In light of the repeated violations by Hamas — including the ceremonies that demean our hostages’ dignity and the cynical use of our hostages for propaganda purposes — it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists planned for yesterday until the next release of hostages is guaranteed, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” read a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, which was released at 1 a.m. on Sunday.

Notably, the sole non-Jewish captive freed on Saturday – Hisham a-Sayyid, a Bedouin Muslim-Israeli held by Hamas for more than a decade – was privately handed over to the Red Cross without a public ceremony.

The Hamas terror group said in a statement that it transferred a-Sayyid without fanfare “out of respect for his honor and the honor of Arab-Israelis.”

According to Hebrew-language media reports, some 600 Palestinian prisoners had already been boarded onto buses at Ofer Prison Saturday when the announcement came that their release was indefinitely postponed.

After waiting for hours on the buses, they were instructed to disembark and return to their cells.

Beyond the ceremony held on Saturday, Israel’s delay was likely influenced by the botched return of the Bibas’ families bodies.

On Thursday, Hamas claimed that it transferred the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, to the Red Cross, along with the body of octogenarian hostage Oded Lifshitz. While DNA testing confirmed the identities of Lifshitz and the Bibas children, the remains of the adult woman were found to not be of Shiri Bibas or any other hostage.

Late Friday evening, Hamas returned Shiri Bibas’s body.

Forensic analysis determined that the Bibas family was brutally murdered by their terrorist captors. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that their murders will “not be taken lightly.”