Israel halted the planned release of 602 Arab terrorists on Saturday night, ordering them off the transport buses and returning them to prison after Hamas flagrantly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision early Sunday morning, condemning Hamas’s continued exploitation of Israeli hostages for propaganda purposes.
“In light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” stated Netanyahu’s office.
The prisoners, convicted terrorists, including 50 serving life sentences—had already been processed for release when Israeli officials, angered by Hamas’s latest provocations, made the firm decision to return them to their cells.
This move comes in response to Hamas’s calculated psychological warfare against Israel and its hostages. In multiple staged handover “ceremonies,” hostages were forced to participate in humiliating spectacles, including wearing shirts bearing the images of Hamas leaders eliminated in the war and kissing the foreheads of terrorist on the stage.
One video released by Hamas showed captives Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David being forced to watch one such event from inside a Hamas vehicle. Reports also surfaced that hostages Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen had been subjected to prolonged torture, chained in the dark, starved, and denied basic human dignity. Some of those released were emaciated, a horrifying testament to the inhumane conditions in which they were held. There vehicle was placed just meters away from the Red Cross vehicles.
Hamas is pure evil.
These sadistic, subhuman terrorists just dragged two Jewish hostages, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, to the release point—not to set them free, but to psychologically torture them. They forced them to watch as other hostages were let go, dangling their… pic.twitter.com/jrknt65iKz
— Jews Fight Back ???? (@JewsFightBack) February 22, 2025
Hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal were filmed emaciated and begging for their lives mere meters away from Red Cross vehicles brazenly taunting them.
The hostages were in the van circled in green. pic.twitter.com/Jy1K7YgqhH
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) February 22, 2025
Further intensifying Israeli outrage, forensic experts confirmed on Saturday night that Shiri Bibas was murdered in Hamas captivity. Her remains, returned by Hamas, bore no signs of being killed in an airstrike—contradicting Hamas’s false claims that she had died in an Israeli bombing.
The ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Jan. 19, was originally set to conclude on March 1. However, Hamas’s repeated breaches and continued abuse of hostages have cast serious doubt on the future of negotiations.
The October 7 Hamas massacre left 1,200 dead and saw 252 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped into Gaza. Of the 64 remaining captives, at least 36 are believed to have been murdered.
Israel has vowed to bring every hostage home—both the living and the dead—and to ensure that Hamas pays the full price for its barbaric crimes.
Content by JNS and TPS were used in this report.
