Chaotic scenes surrounding the release of Israeli and Thai hostages in Gaza on Thursday brought condemnation from Israeli leaders and a temporary delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners, who were ultimately released later in the day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed by several hours the agreed release of 110 Palestinian detainees, including dozens of minors, after live images were broadcast across Israel of a crowd of thousands jostling and cheering as the hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in the central Gazan city of Khan Younis.
He described those scenes as “shocking,” and demanded guarantees from those who mediated a ceasefire deal – Qatar, Egypt and the United States – that the incident would not be repeated.
The release Thursday morning of the captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger in Jabalya, northern Gaza, had gone off without incident – a stage-managed affair in which Hamas militants paraded her in front of cameras and then handed her to representatives from the International Committee for the Red Cross.
But the release in the early afternoon of two Israeli and five Thai civilians produced some of the most stunning images of the nearly two-week-old ceasefire, striking a painful nerve for much of the Israeli public.
Unusually, that handover was a joint affair between Hamas and several allied militant groups. Thousands of Gazans crowded in Khan Younis as Hamas and its allies staged the handover outside the razed house of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in October.
Among those released was Arbel Yehoud, a 29-year-old civilian whom militants abducted from her home in the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023. She was held captive by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Stepping out from a white van, the Israeli civilian looked gaunt and frightened. As militants walked her through a roaring crowd, she kept her head locked forward as her eyes darted left and right. The crowd jostled her back and forth as she made her way toward a waiting Red Cross vehicle.
Yehoud was returned to Israel without further incident. But for many in Israel, the images sparked fears of a repeat of an infamous, televised incident in which two reservist Israeli soldiers were killed by a Palestinian mob in the occupied West Bank, after they stumbled onto the funeral of a child whom Israeli troops had killed the previous day, and following the killing of more than 100 Palestinians.
Fifteen hostages have been released since a ceasefire went into effect earlier this month. Their freedom has brought some relief to a nation traumatized daily by images of civilians and soldiers held captive since October 7, 2023.
But that solace has accompanied by astounding images of Hamas militants’ elaborate handover ceremonies – clearly designed to show that the group is still standing, despite the Israeli government’s promises of “total victory” over the perpetrators of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a right-wing extremist who has threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition, has cited Hamas’s presence on the streets of Gaza as proof that Israel must return to war, saying that it was proof “of the heavy and terrible price Israel is paying for this bad deal.”
110 Palestinians released
Just as night fell, the Israeli prison authority released 110 Palestinians from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, including a prominent former militant leader from the embattled city of Jenin.
In the West Bank town of Beitunia, which overlooks Ofer Prison, the Israeli military on Thursday shut down public celebrations by Palestinians over the detainees’ release, as has repeatedly been the case.
Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas to clear a small crowd, and dropped Arabic-language flyers warning onlookers that “the security forces will not allow demonstrations in support of terrorist organizations.”
The release was met with jubilation in the streets of Ramallah, where hundreds gathered to meet some of the released detainees. Many of those gathered there chanted in support of Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades. A smaller crowd of Fatah supporters has gathered on a nearby hill.
Among those freed were 30 children – some held without charge and none convicted, according to Adalah, a legal aid organization. Also released were 32 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 48 prisoners with “high sentences.” Some of those with serious sentences were due to be released to Egypt, as per the terms of the ceasefire deal agreed to in Doha.
The most prominent to be released on Thursday was Zakaria Zubeidi, former commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Fatah party, which governs the West Bank. His mother, brother, and son have all been killed by the Israeli military. Zubeidi rose through the ranks of the militant group during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
A former child actor, Zubeidi co-founded The Freedom Theatre in his hometown of the Jenin Refugee Camp following that conflict, to promote cultural education among his compatriots.
He was arrested in 2019 and charged with involvement in shooting attacks against Israelis. He gained near cult status among many Palestinians after he was among a group who tunneled out of Israel’s high security Gilboa prison in 2021, before being re-arrested several days later.
Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Tareq Al Hilou, Eugenia Yosef, Lauren Izso, Dana Karni and Khader Al-Za’anoun, a journalist with WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.