Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the army that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which is scheduled to take effect at 8:30 a.m. this Sunday, January 19, 2025, would not begin until Hamas releases the names hostages who will be released, his office said on Sunday.
“The prime minister informed the Israel Defense Forces that the ceasefire, scheduled to take effect at 8:30 a.m., will not begin until Israel has the list, promised by Hamas, of the hostages who will be released”Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Hamas reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and said that the publication of the list of hostages to be released during the first phase had been delayed for “technical reasons”.
The Israeli government had given the green light to the ceasefire agreement and release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office announced in a statement on Saturday, on the eve of the entry into force. force of the truce, while Israeli forces continue their airstrikes in the Palestinian enclave.
The agreement was approved by the government after a meeting lasting more than six hours, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. In the process, far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Avi Maoz and Orit Strock, opposed to the agreement with Hamas, announced their resignation.
-“We have resolved all the details of this agreement”
The White House expects three female hostages to be released this afternoon by the Red Cross. “We have worked out all the details of this agreement. We are completely confident […] it is ready to be implemented on Sunday”the main American negotiator, Brett McGurk, told CNN from the White House.
The agreement negotiated in Qatar provides for a first phase including an initial six-week truce accompanied by the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the attack of October 7, 2023, in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel. Thirty-three of the remaining 98 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, including women, children, men over 50, the sick and the wounded, are to be released during this phase.
30 prisoners released for each female hostage
In return, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinians from its prisons. These prisoners include 737 men, women and teenagers, some of whom are members of Palestinian militant groups convicted of attacks, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained since the start of the war.
The Israeli Ministry of Justice clarified the terms of this release on Saturday, as well as the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates that 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released for every female hostage on Sunday.
The list published the day before each release
On Saturday, Benjamin Netanyahu demanded to receive the list of hostages to be released before being able to carry out the first exchange of prisoners under the truce agreement with Hamas. “We will not proceed with the implementation of the agreement until we have received as agreed the list of hostages who will be released”he said in a press release. He also clarified that he was guarding “the right to resume the war”with the support of the United States.
For its part, Hamas declared on Saturday that the mechanism for releasing Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza would depend on the number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel would release. In a statement, the Palestinian group indicates that the list of prisoners to be released will be published on the eve of each exchange with Israel, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement reached on Wednesday.
A “more promising” future for Lebanon
On Saturday, Egypt announced that 1,890 Palestinian prisoners would be released by Israel in the first phase of the deal. Egypt also announced that 50 trucks of fuel would enter the Gaza Strip every day. After Sunday’s release, the agreement provides for the release of four more female hostages after seven days, then three more hostages every seven days thereafter, Brett McGurk said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, who met with Lebanese leaders on Saturday, said the country could hope for a future “more promising” with a ceasefire that he wanted to become permanent with Israel.
