The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement, announced on Saturday that it was delaying the release of the second batch of Israeli prisoners, without specifying a specific date for the continuation of the process.

This came in a brief statement by Al-Qassam on the Telegram platform, after Palestinian media outlets, including Al-Aqsa Radio, announced the start of handing over the second batch of Israeli prisoners to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam said in the statement that it "decided to delay the release of the second batch of prisoners until Israel adheres to the terms of the agreement related to the entry of relief trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, and because it did not adhere to the agreed-upon standards for releasing prisoners."

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official told the private Hebrew channel 12 that there were “technical reasons” behind the delay in starting the process of releasing Israeli detainees in Gaza.

It explained that the second batch would be released today (Saturday), and that "everything will be fine."

Earlier on Saturday, Hebrew media, including Channel 12 and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, reported that a dispute between Israel and Hamas led to the postponement of the date of the release of the second batch of prisoners detained in Gaza.

Yesterday, Friday, the temporary humanitarian truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions entered into force at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) and will last for 4 days, subject to extension.

The temporary humanitarian truce agreement includes the release of 50 Israeli prisoners from Gaza, in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons according to seniority, and the entry of hundreds of trucks loaded with humanitarian, relief, medical and fuel aid to all areas of the Strip.

The Israeli authorities released 39 Palestinians, 24 women and 15 children, on Friday, as part of an exchange deal with Hamas, which was concluded through Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation.

In return, Hamas released 13 Israeli women and children, some of whom hold dual citizenship, in addition to 10 Thais and one Filipino, who had been detained in Gaza since last October 7.