Israel angered over footage depicting Hamas' treatment of released Israeli hostages

JERUSALEM, Palestine

Israeli analysts have not hidden their anger Wednesday about footage of Hamas fighters and Israeli prisoners gesturing at each other while being handed to Red Cross teams in the Gaza Strip.

Footage circulated as Israeli television stations reported that families of Israeli hostages said their relatives were treated well during their captivity.

But analysts in Israel consider the footage depicts the "humanity" of "Hamas" fighters and they strongly object to the images.

Political analyst Yaniv Peleg said in an article for the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper that broadcasting the footage on television is detrimental to Israel.

Hamas professionally produces footage, shot using two or three cameras, including a drone (Duron), with proper lighting and settings, he said.

Peleg said every detail is captured to portray the humanity of the perpetrators, Hamas, to the world.

Maya Lecker, another political analyst, wrote Sunday in the Haaretz newspaper, "We must admit that applauding Hamas gunmen for giving high-fives to their captives on camera, after killing their family members – in some cases in front of their eyes – sets a very low bar for humanity."

"But many pro-Palestinian influencers and social media users – most of them from outside Israel and Palestine – find the nightly hand-overs of hostages to be heartwarming public displays of humanity and morality by Hamas militants," she added.

Israeli Channel 13 reported Monday that relatives of the released Israeli hostages said they did not experience mistreatment and were not subjected to torture.

The food was scarce as evident in all the hostages, as they had lost weight, it said

Tel Aviv kept the released Israeli hostages away from the media and allowed only relatives and friends to meet them.

Qatar announced an agreement late Monday to extend an initial four-day humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas for an additional two days, under which further prisoner exchanges will be carried out.

During the past five days, Israel received 60 hostages, including women and children, in exchange for the release of 180 Palestinians, including women and children, from Israeli prisons as part of a deal with Hamas.

Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

It has since killed over 15,000 people, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Ziad Aslan