Israel and Hamas on Sunday accused each other that they had violated the cessation of Gaza’s fire already fragile after Israel delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who should have been exchanged for hostages.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the prisoners would have been freed until the release of further hostages “was insured”, and Hamas has undertaken to let them go without “humiliation ceremonies”.
Growing tensions come after a week of mutual recriminations and tense nerves on both sides. The delay has raised more questions about the future of the ceasefire for Gaza, with a temporary six -week respite that will expire on March 1st.
There is still no clarity on a possible extension or even if serious negotiations have started. Some members of the right -wing government of Israel are pushing for a resumption of the fighting after the initial phase of the ceased, which provided a short break in the devastating war coupled by the attack led by Hamas to Israel on October 7, 2023.
Saturday, Hamas released six Israeli hostages, the last living prisoners who were freed in the first phase of the fire. Previously he had delivered the remains of four hostages, including those of Shiri Bibas and his two small children, who had all been alive during the 2023 assault.
Israel should have released 620 Palestinian prisoners and prisoners in return, the largest group of prisoners to be left since the ceased fire in Gaza began last month, but delayed the move, citing what Mr.’s office Netanyahu described as “cynical of Hamas exploitation” of hostages for propaganda purposes.
Late on Saturday, dozens of Palestinian families, their dark faces, left a place in Ramallah in the western West Bank of Israel, where some prisoners should have appeared, after waiting there for hours in the hope of gathering with their loved ones. Many families said they had not received official communications regarding delayed release, based on media relationships and word of mouth.
Hamas has released hostages in performative ceremonies aimed at demonstrating that it still has the control of Gaza, a practice that many Israeli officials have condemned. Saturday, five of the six living hostages were paraded on a stage, flanked by masked armed men, pushing indignation into Israel. An hostage was seen on a stage that kissed the heads of masked armed men, as in gratitude. His relatives later said he had been asked to do it by a Hamas roomman.
The anger was further inflamed when Hamas published a propaganda movie on Saturday evening showing two other Israeli hostages who had been forced to watch three of their prisoners released.
Repeatedly putting their scraped heads in the hands, the couple pleaded the camera for their freedom. The groups for rights and experts of international law affirm that a hostage video is, by definition, made under coercion and the declarations in it are generally forced. Israeli officials have defined the videos of Hamas passed as a form of “psychological war” and experts say that their production can constitute a war crime.
In a Sunday declaration, the office of Mr. Netanyahu has accused Hamas of violating his agreement with Israel and said that the prisoner exits would have been postponed “until the release of the next hostages has been insured and without humiliating ceremonies”. Thursday, Hamas should deliver the bodies of four other Israelis who died in accordance with the initial phase of the ceased.
Izzat Al-Rise, a member of the Hamas political office, declared in a subsequent declaration on Sunday that the decision of Mr. Netanyahu to delay the releases prisoners “reflects a deliberate attempt to stop agreement”. Al-Rishq also accused Israel of humiliating Prisoners and Palestinian prisoners during the release process, mistreating them “up to the last moments” and having banned their families to organize celebrations.
Dozens of prisoners who should be released are serving life phrases for mortal attacks in Israel, while others had not been formally accused.
Recriminations came after a week already turbulent. Thursday, Hamas returned four bodies in which it was said that they were those of the hostages that had died in captivity, including that of Mrs. Bibas. But Israel’s forensic tests established that the body was not his. Last Friday, Hamas transferred another set of remains, that Israeli officials confirmed on Saturday as soon as those of Mrs. Bibas. The kidnapping and death of Mrs. Bibas and her children have become a symbol of Israeli pain and painting.
In addition to the turmoil, the Israeli authorities rejected Hamas’ statements according to which the young children of Mrs. Bibas, Ariel, who was 4 years old when he had been kidnapped and Kfir, who was not even 9 months old, were killed in the Israeli air attacks, saying that an autopsy had been killed showed that their kidnappers had killed them “with bare hands”, so they tried to make it seem that they had died in a bombing.
Dr. Chen Kugel, Israel’s main pathologist, said on Saturday evening that there were no evidence that Mrs. Bibas, who was 32 years old, had been killed in a bombing. He has not developed or presented tests for the statement.
On Saturday Hamas accused Israel of lying regarding the fate of the Bibas family, without explaining the discrepancies. Israel’s army said Mrs. Bibas and her children were held prisoners by a smaller armed group in Gaza, the Mujahedeen brigades.
About 60 hostages remain in Gaza, about half of them already considered dead, according to the Israeli government.
Hamas’ propaganda video of the two prisoners who asked for their exit has unleashed a vortex of emotions in Israel, including a glimmer of hope for their families.
“I saw my son for the first time in 16 months,” he told Kan Ilan Gilboa-Dalal, father of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, one of the two hostages of the video. “I heard his voice for the first time. For me, this gives me some air, knowing that it is fine, “he said.
On the other hand, he added, there was “nothing more cruel” than forcing his son and his friend, Evyatar David, the second hostage in the car, to look at the release ceremony.
Galia David, Evyatar’s mother, said on the army radio: “The consolation is that Evyatar and Guy are alive. But I was able to see through his eyes in his soul, and he is agonized. “
The two hostages of the car and the three on stage were all kidnapped by a music festival, the tribe of Nova, near the border with Gaza during the October 2023 attack.
Fatima Abdulkarianim Relationships contributed by Ramallah, in the Israeli employed West Bank and Gabby Sobelman From Rehovot, Israel.