Early on Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Office made an announcement stating that the release of terrorists scheduled for Saturday would be postponed due to Hamas’ ongoing violations. The announcement explained that one key reason behind the delay was the exploitative and degrading ceremonies that Hamas used to manipulate the hostages for propaganda. The PMO made it clear that the release would only happen once the next hostages’ safety was guaranteed, and without any humiliating ceremonies involved. As a result of this decision, the terrorists who were scheduled for release were taken off the buses and returned to their cells.
On Saturday, Israel had planned to free 620 terrorists, among them 71 who had been sentenced to life sentences and 60 others serving long prison terms. In a move to further exploit the situation, Hamas brought additional hostages, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, to the release point early on Saturday, along with Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen. This was done so that the two could witness the cynical “release” ceremony.
Following the release of the video, Guy Gilboa-Dalal’s father spoke to Channel 12 News, sharing his distress: “This is the first time that I have seen my son in 16 months. This is the best sign of life I could have asked for, but on the other hand, there is nothing more cruel than this. This isn’t surprising, but it is a new level – to torture people like this. This only shows the urgent and great need to get them out of there.”
Ye’ela David, the sister of Evyatar David, also responded to the cruel “sign of life” by writing: “They are alive, they put them both this morning in the most horrific and bad situation that they could be [in]. There is no end to the stupid cynicism of these animals. I admire you, my brothers.”
{Matzav.com Israel}