Israel delays release of Palestinian prisoners, citing 'humiliating' handovers of hostages
Voice of America
Nadeen, who was waiting for the release of her brother, Ahamd al-Seifi, after he served 15 years in Israeli jails, is comforted by a relative, Feb. 23, 2025.
Israel says the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is delayed "until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies" at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.
A railway worker guides a train in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 13, 2025. Vietnam's National Assembly on Feb. 19 approved the use of Chinese loans to build an $8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China.
FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy casts his ballot as his wife, Olena, stands nearby at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Kyiv on July 21, 2019.
Dana Shem Tov, sister of Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, reacts as she watches his televised release by Hamas militants at the family home in Tel Aviv on Feb. 22, 2025. A woman mourns at a memorial for deceased hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz at “Hostages Square,” while Israelis gather while waiting for the release of six hostages in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 22, 2025. Omer Wenkert, a hostage held in Gaza since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is escorted by Hamas militants as he is released in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, on Feb. 22, 2025.
A mahout sprays water over elephants during their daily bath in a river, at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala on Feb. 16, 2025 as Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary. Tourists take pictures as elephants return to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage after taking their daily bath in a river in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025. Elephants stroll across the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025.
People wear merchandise in support of US President Donald Trump at a vendor booth during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Feb. 21, 2025.
A poster shows pictures of the Bibas family, top row from second left: Yarden, Shiri, and their sons Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Words above read, '37 members of Kibbutz Nir Oz are still missing.' Palestinian Hamas militants and people gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 20, 2025.
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People displaced by armed gang attacks take refuge in the town hall of the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 13, 2025.
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Members of the M23 movement monitor the area following the takeover of the city at the Place de l'Independance in Bukavu on Feb. 20, 2025. M23 rebels guard outside the South Kivu province administrative office, at the center of east Congo's second-largest city, Bukavu, Feb. 16, 2025.
FILE - A member of the local police patrols a checkpoint for Islamic State militants in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, July 7, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Feb. 20, 2025, that Islamic State and other terrorists could be operating in Afghanistan.
A poster shows Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Palestinian militants and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. People react at the so-called "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 20, 2025, as the bodies of four people, including two children, are handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza.