Crowds of cheering Palestinians late overnight Sunday greeted 90 terrorists in Beitunia in Judea after they were released by Israel as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, AFP reported.
Earlier on Sunday, three Israeli female hostages were released from the Gaza Strip after 472 days in captivity and were escorted by the Israel Defense Forces to reunite with their families.
The Israel Prison Service said in a statement just before 1:30 a.m. that “All the terrorists were released from Ofer prison and the Jerusalem detention center.”
AFP reported that members of the crowd climbed on the lead bus and unfurled a Palestinian flag, later being joined by others who waved the flags of the Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist factions.
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee issued a warning on X against participation in riots or armed marches supporting terrorism.
“Anyone who participates in such terrorist acts exposes himself to danger,” Adraee said in Arabic.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan harshly criticized the ceasefire agreement, expressing his concerns over the consequences of releasing Palestinian terrorists to Judea and Samaria.
“Releasing terrorists into Judea and Samaria is a clear danger to the country! This is a dramatic and negative change on the ground,” Dagan was quoted as saying by Israel National News.
“Sadly, we are now witnessing celebrations of terror supporters in Judea and Samaria and around the world,” he went on to say.
Dagan stressed that “Every Jewish heart and every normal person in the world is moved to tears seeing the hostages returning to their families.”
But, he added, “The wholesale release of terrorists into Judea and Samaria is a clear danger to the country. It doesn’t just endanger the residents of Judea and Samaria; it clearly endangers all citizens of Israel, especially the ‘Judea and Samaria envelope’—from Tel Aviv through Netanya, Hadera to Jerusalem. The Israeli government made a terrible and difficult decision.”
Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, on Sunday morning rejected a petition filed by terror victims that sought to block the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
“It is not our place or custom to intervene in matters of this type in which the scope of judicial review is extremely narrow,” the justices stated in their ruling.
