Israel Frees Palestinians After ‘Guarantees On Safe Hostage Return’, Slams Hamas For ‘Shocking’ Swap

Three more Israeli hostages — two females and an 80-year-old man — were released in Gaza Thursday as the third hostages-for-prisoners swap agreed to by Israel and Hamas got underway, but the chaotic nature of the handover of two of the Israelis angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the extent that he delayed his country’s part of the exchange until later in the day. Israel did start releasing Palestinian detainees from the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank later Thursday, keeping to its part of the third exchange amid the ongoing ceasefire. Buses carrying the what was expected to be 110 prisoners freed on Thursday were seen leaving the prison about two hours after Netanyahu’s spokesman said he had “instructed to delay the release of the terrorists scheduled to be released today — until the safe exit of our hostages is guaranteed in the next few days.”Netanyahu’s office released a subsequent statement saying that following his demand, ceasefire mediators had “passed a commitment according to which a safe exit will be guaranteed for our abductees who will be released in the next instalments. Israel insists that lessons will be learned and that in future times there will be extra care to return our abductees safely.” n18oc_world n18oc_crux