The decision by Hamas to parade bodies of deceased Israeli captives during a handover on Thursday was a mistake by the group, a Palestinian analyst said, Al Jazeera reports.

In a long post to social media, Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian analyst, writer and visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said many had pointed out that Israel had returned hundreds of unidentified Palestinian bodies in “garbage bags” piled up in trucks.

“Our principles should NEVER be contingent on the behaviour of our oppressor!” Shehada wrote.

“Pointing out the mistakes of a Palestinian faction does NOT delegitimize our cause or lend credence to Israel’s [and] it most definitely does NOT mean opposing, vilifying or sowing doubt about Palestinians’ legal right to resist their slow demise [and] dispossession, in accordance with international law,” he said.