Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday condemned the crowds of Gazans that mobbed three Israeli hostages as they were being released by Hamas.
“I view the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages as very serious,” wrote Netanyahu after the release of Arbel Yehud, Gadi Mozes, Agam Berger and five Thai citizens, all of whom were abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
“This is further proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization. I demand that the mediators ensure that such horrific scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages. Those who dare harm our hostages do so at their own peril,” Netanyahu wrote.
Footage from the release shows massive crowds, apparently in a state of jubilation, swarming around cars transporting the hostages and around the Hamas terrorists escorting the Israelis from the vehicles.
Otzma Yehudit Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, a critic of the ceasefire deal who recently took his party out of the government because of it, called the display a “horror” scene demonstrating that “this is not a total victory but a total failure, in a reckless deal like no other.
The government, he continued, “could have withheld humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity and water from the bloodthirsty mob that is now trying to lynch our hostages and crushed them militarily.”
Israel has agreed to release 110 terrorists in exchange for the latest group of hostages, including Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammad Abu Warda and Sami Jaradat, according to Channel 12.
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 September 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.
The deal that Hamas and Israel initiated on Jan. 19 was for the release of more than 90 hostages for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israel has agreed to redeploy in the Gaza Strip and allow the repopulation of the area’s north.
The first phase of the deal involves the release of 33 hostages in exchange for more than 700 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,000 detainees over a 42-day period. Of the 33 Israel hostages on the first phase list, 10 have returned so far.
