Gaza ceasefire: Release of hostages may start from Sunday
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday that the Palestinian group Hamas will release hostages on Sunday under a Gaza ceasefire deal. According to Israeli media, the Prime Minister’s Office says that despite the delay in signing the agreement and getting it approved by the government, the hostages will be released from Gaza as planned on Sunday. According to a PMO statement, once the ceasefire agreement is approved by both the Security Cabinet and the Full Cabinet, it will come into effect and ‘will enable the planned release of hostages’ under which three female hostages were released on Sunday. Will be done.
According to Israeli media reports, the Israeli government meeting can take place only on Friday. Before this, PM Netanyahu has also called a meeting of the Security Cabinet. The Israel-Hamas agreement followed a 15-month war that overran much of the Gaza Strip. More than 46,000 Palestinians were killed and millions were displaced. Under the first phase of a six-week three-phase agreement, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children and men over the age of 50. Israel will release Palestinians held in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on the number of hostages freed.
According to a media report, 990 to 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women and children, may be released. Hamas said in a statement on Friday that obstacles arising from the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement had been resolved. However, Israeli fighter planes continue intense attacks in Gaza. The civil emergency service said on Friday that at least 101 people, including 58 women and children, had been killed since the agreement was announced on Wednesday. Israel blamed Hamas for the last-minute delay, while Hamas said on Thursday it remained committed to the deal, which is set to take effect on Sunday. Israel says there are still 98 hostages in Gaza.
About half of them are believed to be alive. These include both Israelis and non-Israelis. Of the total hostages, 94 were captured in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and four have been held in Gaza since 2014. Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza. After this, Israel started military attacks on the Gaza Strip occupied by the Palestinian group. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 46,000 Palestinians died in Israeli attacks.
