Hamas has condemned Israel’s decision to postpone the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, saying its claim that the captives’ handover ceremonies are “humiliating” was false and a pretext to evade Israel’s obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s decision reflects a deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a blatant violation of its terms, and shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations,” Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement on Sunday.
Israel delayed the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released on Saturday after Hamas upheld its side of the ceasefire deal by releasing six Israeli captives from Gaza, the last group of living captives to be freed under the ceasefire’s first phase.
Netanyahu earlier on Sunday said freeing Palestinians would be delayed until Hamas ends its “humiliating ceremonies” while releasing Israeli captives, issuing a new demand not spelt out in the ceasefire agreement.
“In light of Hamas’ repeated violations – including the disgraceful ceremonies that dishonour our hostages and the cynical use of hostages for propaganda – it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday [Saturday] until the release of the next hostages is ensured, without the humiliating ceremonies,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of playing “dirty games to sabotage and undermine” the deal.
“The prisoner handover ceremony does not include any insult to them, but rather reflects the noble humane treatment of them”, Hamas said, referring to the staging of the captives’ release, as it called on mediating nations to ensure Israel sticks to the terms of the deal.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19, Hamas has released 25 Israeli captives in high-profile handovers, with masked fighters parading the captives on stage. The ceasefire deal does not categorically define how Hamas and Israel should release the Israeli captives and the Palestinian prisoners.