Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners after a brief delay to protest the chaos surrounding the handover of hostages by Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on social media that following his demand, mediators delivered a commitment that a safe exit will be guaranteed for Israeli hostages in the next round of swaps.
“During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes,” the Israeli premier’s office said. “We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages.”
The five-hour delay does not seem to have had an impact on the six-week ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which paused the war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting that devastated the Palestinian territory. Given the issue was quickly resolved, the next hostage-prisoner swap is expected to go ahead as scheduled on Saturday.
The Palestinian prisoners were meant to be freed after the return of three Israeli and five Thai hostages from Gaza.
Two Israeli hostages – Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses – and those from Thailand were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas in the Gazan town of Khan Younis. During the exchange, a crowd of people gathered around the hostages in a way Israel said was a threat to their safety.