Hamas has rebuffed an Israeli offer to free the approximately 600 Palestinian terrorist prisoners whose release has been delayed since Saturday in exchange for immediately returning to Israel the remains of four hostages, Hebrew media reported on Monday.
Israel reportedly also demanded that Hamas refrain from holding a propaganda ceremony when it returned the remains, as it did when it returned the remains of four captives on Thursday.
A Hamas source was cited by Israeli outlet Ynet as saying that it would not hand over the bodies, scheduled to be released on Thursday according to the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire until the terrorists are released.
However, on Monday night, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that the remains of two slain hostages would be transferred to Egyptian territory “within 24 hours” in exchange for the release of 302 Arab terrorists.
According to the report, Hamas agreed to release the bodies of two more deceased captives later in exchange for the 301 remaining terrorists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he had paused the prisoners’ release “in light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes.”
Israel was set to release the Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, including 50 serving life sentences, 60 serving long terms, and 47 who were rearrested after being released as part of the 2011 swap for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes described Netanyahu’s decision to delay the terrorists’ release as an “appropriate response” to the terrorist organization’s actions, according to Reuters.
Hughes stressed that U.S. President Donald Trump was ready to back Jerusalem in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas.”
The return this week of the remains of four hostages would be the final exchange of Phase 1 of the ceasefire, which took effect on Jan. 19 and is due to end on March 1.