Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he met with Thai ambassador to Israel Pannabha Chandraramya this morning ahead of the release of five Thai hostages held by Hamas.

"I told the Ambassador that the people of Israel are very moved by the release of our Thai brothers from the hell of captivity, and that I heard how loved and important they were to the families and communities in which they worked," Herzog said in a statement.

"We hope that they will find strength through the process of rehabilitation and healing, and will be able to return to their homes soon," he said.

Israel has delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were scheduled for release in exchange for the hostages released earlier by Hamas.

In a statement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office branded the 110 people set to be freed as "terrorists," adding the delay would be enforced “until the safe exit of our hostages is guaranteed in the next few days.”

It said that he ordered the delay along with Israel Katz, his defense minister.

Several teenagers detained without charge were set for release, Khalil Falama, an official overseeing the release told NBC News earlier today.

Ahead of today's hostage handover, displaced Palestinians continued to return to their homes in the enclave, only to find they were reduced to rubble.

Video captured by NBC News' crew captured families in city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza on foot yesterday, surrounded by towering piles of rubble. In drone footage building after building could be seen heavily damaged and destroyed.

When Ibtisam Al-Kafarne and her five children arrived at the place where her home once stood there was nothing left and she asked where they would sleep and how they would survive.

Surounded by militant fighters, many dressed in black, Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud looked petrified before she was handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis.

Yehoud, 29, was walked through a large crowd, cheering and shouting. Many took pictures and video with their cellphones.

Israel had expected Yehoud to be released last weekend and the resulting dispute about her remaining in captivity threatened to disrupt the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the scenes unfolding in Gaza during today’s hostage handovers as “shocking” and “horrific.”

It comes after Israeli hostages could be seen surrounded by a crowd of Hamas members and onlookers as they were handed over to teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“I view with great severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement today. While he did not specify what exactly had riled him, he demanded that “the mediators ensure that such horrific scenes do not occur again, and to guarantee the safety of our hostages.”

In a separate statement, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the handover as “nerve-wracking and unbearable” to watch.

Israel is set to release 110 Palestinian prisoners after eight hostages, three Israelis and five Thai nationals were freed by Hamas.

Those freed will include 30 children, 32 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, and 48 prisoners with high sentences, the Hamas Prisoner Media Office said in a statement.

Seven hostages have just been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the IDF and Israel Security Agency, have said in a joint statement.

Those freed "were on their way toward IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip," the statement added.

Their release came shortly after Israeli soldier Agam Berger was freed seperately.

The IDf confirmed to NBC News that the eight hostages expected to be released today have now been handed over, including three Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals.

Thailand’s ambassador to Israel said she was “holding her breath” along with the entire country of Israel for the release of five Thai agricultural workers who were kidnapped on Oct. 7.

“We have nothing to do with this conflict, they just happened to be there, and they are working tirelessly on the farms and kibbutzes,” said Pannabha Chandraramya as she watched footage from Gaza at the Israeli hospital where the Thai workers will be brought upon their return to Israel.

She added that despite the war, Thai agricultural workers are continuing to come to Israel. Prior to the attack, less than 30,000 Thai workers were in Israel, mostly in the agricultural sector, and that number has grown to 38,000 today.

Pannabha said the Thai government had notified the families of all six surviving Thai hostages, because they are not sure which five will be released. The bodies of another two Thai hostages who were killed on Oct. 7, 2023 are also being held in Gaza.

Her mother was pregnant when her father was imprisoned, so when he is released today it will be the first time they have ever met, Raghad, 21, told NBC News in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

As she waited with her sister, she said it will feel like a “dream” to be reunited with him. “This is the first time,” she added. “I want to touch my father. I want to hug my father.”

Raghad and her sister did not want to say why their father had been imprisoned.