Jerusalem has ordered their release held up “until the safe exit of our hostages during the next waves is guaranteed,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

By JNS

Jerusalem has frozen the release of terrorists whose sentences were to be commuted under the ceasefire deal with Hamas, after “horrifying scenes” were witnessed during the release of Israeli hostages Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes on Thursday, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Defense Minister Israel Katz, has instructed a delay in the release of the terrorists scheduled to be released today until the safe exit of our hostages during the next waves is guaranteed,” the statement said, confirming media reports. Jerusalem “demands that the mediators work to achieve this,” the PMO added, referring to Qatar and Egypt, who helped negotiate the deal.

A security source told Israel’s Ynet outlet that the political echelon gave the order to halt the 110 prisoners’ release minutes after they had already left Ofer Prison near Ramallah, forcing the bus convoy to turn around.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism Party) hailed Netanyahu’s decision, calling on the premier to “prevent the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons at least until guarantees are received that the harsh and humiliating images from Gaza and the abuse of our hostages right before their return doesn’t happen again.”

Earlier, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had appealed to Doha and Qatar following the “horrific scenes” of Yehud and Mozes being publicly taunted by their captors and a mob of thousands of Palestinians as they were transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“This is further proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization,” Netanyahu’s office stated, demanding that Doha and Cairo work to “guarantee the safety of our hostages.”

Among the terrorists who had been scheduled to be released on Thursday were Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammad Abu Warda and Sami Jaradat, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster.

Zubeidi led Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Samaria city of Jenin and briefly escaped from Israel’s high-security Gilboa Prison in 2021.

Since Zubeidi was not convicted of murder but of other terror offenses, he will not be deported and is expected to be released back to Samaria.

Abu Warda and Jaradat were responsible for terrorist attacks that combined killed 66 Israelis in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Both are scheduled to be deported and banned from returning to Israeli territory.