Israel said it is halting the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners until Hamas assured the release of the next hostages without the "humiliating ceremonies".
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office delayed the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners for several hours, which was meant to immediately follow the release of six Israeli hostages from Gaza.
After the six hostages arrived back in Israel, Hamas released a video in which two other hostages, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, were seen watching one of the handovers earlier on Saturday.
The Palestinian prisoners set for release include 50 serving life sentences, 60 with long sentences, 47 who were released under a previous hostage-for-prisoner exchange and 445 prisoners from Gaza arrested since the war began.
In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said Israel’s claim that the hostages' handover ceremonies were "humiliating" was false and a pretext to evade its obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
