Stay Updated on Upcoming Israel-Hamas Ceasefire & Hostage Exchange
What is Hamas Doing?
The Palestinian movement has been delaying the transfer of a list of hostages to be released for technical reasons, reported Israeli Ynet news outlet.
Hamas members communicate “physically via emissaries and it takes time to agree on the names and the location of the hostages when [Israeli military] planes are still above them,” a source told Ynet.
Thirty-three of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages are expected to be freed by Hamas, while Israel is to set free almost 2,000 jailed Palestinians in the first phase of the deal.
Hamas is expected to release three living female captives in exchange for 95 Palestinians, most of them women and children, on Sunday , Al Jazeera reported.
What is Israel Doing?
As part of the deal, the Israeli military in Rafah has begun withdrawing from the center of the city towards the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, located on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
Israeli forces carried out several attacks last night, striking Gaza City in the north, Deir el-Balah and Nuseirat in the center, and Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Al Jazeera reported.
Israel is expected to ease its blockade of Gaza, and allow in 600 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fairly shortly,” and warned that the ceasefire and hostage deal had “better hold,” NBC reported.
Families of Americans believed to be held hostage by Hamas spoke with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security team Saturday, asking for a “commitment to see this through,” according to CNN.