Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a halt to the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners after Hamas freed eight captives, including three Israelis and five Thai nationals.

The Palestinian resistance released an Israeli female soldier along with two settlers and five Thai nationals on Thursday as scheduled, in the third round of the prisoner swap.

With the release of these eight captives, Hamas fulfilled its part of the third phase of the prisoner swap, paving the way for Israel to to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 children.

However, Netanyahu said in statement that he had ordered a halt to the release of Palestinians until further notice, claiming that the handover of eight captives had been conducted in a “chaotic” condition.

The Israeli premier said the exchange would be delayed until mediators secured guarantees from Hamas of “the safe exit of our hostages in the next rounds.”

Surrounded by masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, the captives made their way through large Palestinian crowds toward the Red Cross vehicles on Thursday without any incident.

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Over six weeks, Hamas will release 33 Israeli captives – about one-third of those in captivity – in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group, of the Palestinian prisoners to be released today, 32 had received life sentences, and 48 were serving prison terms of different duration.

In the last two exchanges, Hamas released seven Israeli captives in return for 290 prisoners, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, except for one Jordanian.

A fourth exchange scheduled for Saturday will involve the release of three Israeli men, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

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