GAZA – The truce did not take place at the scheduled time. Less than an hour before the ceasefire agreement with Hamas comes into force this Sunday, January 19, Israel warned that it would not come into force until the Palestinian Islamist movement will not have transmitted an expected list of hostages to be released during the day.
Hamas said in a statement that it had every intention of respecting the agreement but acknowledged a delay “in providing the names of hostages to be released”and this “for technical reasons in the field”.
“The Prime Minister has given instructions to the Israeli army that the ceasefire, which is due to come into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. Paris), will not begin until Israel has not received the list of released hostages, as Hamas promised to do”Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The ceasefire negotiated by Qatar with the help of the United States and Egypt must be followed by the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Hostage releases planned for this Sunday
The agreement, reached by mediators on Wednesday, a few days before the inauguration of the new American president Donald Trump, fueled hopes for lasting peace despite another warning from Benjamin Netanyahu. The latter warned that it was “a provisional ceasefire” and that his country kept itself “the right to resume the war if necessary and with the support of the United States”.
-Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released, in a first phase spread over six weeks. In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, with Egypt reporting for its part “more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners” to be released during this first phase.
Hostages will be released on Sunday, the Israeli government announced, without specifying their number or at what time. Three reception points have been set up on Israel’s southern border with Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom and Eretz crossings and at the one near Kibbutz Reim, a military official said. The captives will be taken care of by doctors.
More information to come…
