On Sunday, Israel announced it was postponing the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, initially planned for the previous day, until Hamas meets specific conditions, highlighting the fragile nature of the Gaza ceasefire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement early Sunday stating that Israel would withhold the release of the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees "until the next hostages are released, and without the demeaning ceremonies." This referenced recent handovers by Hamas, which U.N. officials criticized for not adhering to international law due to their disrespectful nature.

Hamas has previously made hostages appear on stage before crowds and sometimes speak before their release. Additionally, coffins containing hostage remains have been carried through crowds.

Israel's announcement, which also accused Hamas of repeatedly breaching the month-old ceasefire, came after the Palestinian militant group handed over six hostages from Gaza as part of an exchange under the truce on Saturday.

The six hostages released on Saturday were the last living Israeli captives to be handed over during the initial phase of the ceasefire. The bodies of four deceased Israeli hostages were scheduled for release next week. It remains unclear whether Israel seeks assurances for those releases or other hostages.

After the six hostages arrived in Israel, Hamas released a video showing two other hostages, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, watching one of the handovers earlier on Saturday.

Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif Al-Qanou earlier accused Israel of violating the ceasefire when Saturday passed without the planned release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel and Hamas have frequently accused each other of violations since the ceasefire began on January 19, although it has held so far. At one point, Hamas threatened to stop handing over hostages due to alleged Israeli breaches.

Israelis Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, who were seized during Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, were handed over to the Red Cross in central Gaza on Saturday. Dozens of militants guarded the crowd watching the handover, while masked Hamas men with automatic rifles stood beside the three men, who appeared thin and pale, and made them wave from the stage.

Earlier, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39, were released in southern Gaza.

Hamas defended the handover events on Saturday, describing them as a solemn display of Palestinian unity. It handed over a sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, a 36-year-old Arab citizen of Israel, to the Red Cross in Gaza City without a public ceremony.

Al-Sayed and Mengistu had been held by Hamas for around a decade after entering Gaza of their own accord. Shoham was abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri along with his wife and two children, who were freed during a brief truce in November 2023.

Sixty-three more captives, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, remain in Gaza and are expected to be released under a three-phase ceasefire deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

Shem Tov, one of the released hostages, hugged his parents tightly, laughing and crying. "How I dreamt of this," he said in a video shared by the Israeli military.

The delicate truce between Israel and Hamas militants was also jeopardized by the misidentification of a body released on Thursday, initially thought to be that of Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and husband during Hamas' 2023 attack. Late Friday, Hamas handed over another body, which her family confirmed to be hers.

While the ceasefire has brought a temporary halt to the fighting, the prospects of a definitive end to the war remain uncertain.

Both sides have indicated their intention to start discussions on a second stage, which mediators say aims to secure the return of all remaining hostages and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The conflict began when Hamas-led militants launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people and the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israel.

The Israeli counter-offensive has killed at least 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and has left much of the enclave in ruins, with hundreds of thousands displaced and reliant on aid.