DOHA, January 30. /TASS/. The Hamas movement is keeping an eye on the situation related to Israel’s decision to suspend the release of Palestinian prisoners, the Qatar-based Al Araby TV channel reported, citing a Hamas source.
"Together with the mediators, we are monitoring the occupier’s suspension of the Palestinian prisoner release," the source said.
According to Reuters, Hamas has called on the mediators to interfere in order to resolve the situation.
On Thursday, Palestinian groups active in Gaza released eight hostages, including three Israeli citizens and five Thai nationals, while Israel was supposed to free 110 Palestinians from its prisons. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that the process be suspended until a safe handover of hostages to Red Cross members in the Gaza Strip in the next phases of the ceasefire deal was guaranteed.
The Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19. On the same day, three Israeli women were returned home. Israel, in turn, released 90 Palestinian prisoners. On January 25, four more Israeli women were released from captivity in the Gaza Strip and Israel freed 200 Palestinian prisoners. As many as 114 of them arrived in the West Bank, 16 returned to Gaza, and the rest 70 were deported to Egypt.