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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Israel frees prisoners after chaotic Gaza hostage exchange

By Galit Altstein Bloomberg News

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners after a brief delay to protest the chaos surrounding the handover of hostages by Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement posted on X that following his demand, mediators delivered a commitment that a safe exit will be guaranteed for Israeli hostages in the next round of swaps.

“During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes,” the Israeli premier’s office said. “We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages.”

The five hour delay doesn’t seem to have had an impact on the six-week ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which paused the war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting that devastated the Palestinian territory. Given the issue was quickly resolved, the next hostage-prisoner swap is expected to go ahead as scheduled on Saturday.

The Palestinian prisoners were meant to be freed after the return of three Israeli and five Thai hostages from Gaza.

Two Israeli hostages – Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses – and those from Thailand were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas in the Gazan town of Khan Younis. During the exchange, a crowd of people gathered around the hostages in a way Israel said was a threat to their safety.

The scenes were “horrifying,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said.

Agam Berger, the other Israeli hostage, was released in Jebaliya in the north of Gaza without incident.

All eight hostages are now in Israel.

The first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire went into effect almost two weeks ago and requires the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages – some of whom are dead – in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. So far, 10 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been freed in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners. Talks on a more complicated second stage are meant to commence next week, and will be the focus of Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

The next stage is meant to include agreements on a permanent end to the war and on the release of all remaining hostages – males under 50, including soldiers – in return for more Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other countries.

–With assistance from Fares Akram.