By Euronews | Created at 2025-01-19 08:51:24 | Updated at 2025-01-19 12:20:06
4 hours ago
Hamas blamed the delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons.” It said in a statement that it is committed to the ceasefire deal announced last week.
The Israeli military said on Sunday morning it “continues to attack” inside the Gaza Strip as a dispute with Hamas delayed the start of a planned ceasefire.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s chief spokesman, said the truce would not begin until Hamas hands over the names of three hostages to be released later on Sunday, echoing an earlier statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The truce had been set to go into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Netanyahu said he had instructed the military that the ceasefire “will not begin until Israel has in its possession the list of hostages to be freed, which Hamas committed to provide.” He had issued a similar warning the night before.
The ceasefire was set to pause the fighting after 15 months of war and see the release of dozens of hostages held by the militants in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel recovers the body of a soldier in Gaza
Also on Sunday, Israel said its forces had recovered and returned the body of a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, whose remains were held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said a complicated operation involving elite commando forces returned the body of Oron Shaul overnight on Saturday.
Shaul, 21 at the time of his death, was killed in battle in the war a decade ago. His body was snatched by Hamas and held since.
Hamas still holds the body of another soldier killed during that war, Hadar Goldin.
Both of the soldiers’ families had staged a public campaign to have the bodies returned.
The bodies were expected to be returned as part of a fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas in exchange for the hostages and bodies it holds.
Israel and the ceasefire deal
Israel's Cabinet approved the deal early on Saturday after it was brokered by mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt in months of indirect talks between the warring sides.
It came after months of stumbling negotiations between the warring sides, and mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US, and is only the second such truce brokered in 15 months of war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel is treating the ceasefire with Hamas as temporary and retains the right to continue fighting if necessary.
Speaking to the nation just 12 hours before the ceasefire is to start, he claimed that he had the support of President-elect Donald Trump, who he said he spoke with on Wednesday.
Netanyahu also touted Israel’s military successes in Lebanon and Syria as the reason Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. “We have changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu stressed that he was able to negotiate the best deal possible even as Israel’s far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Saturday he and most of his party would resign from the government in opposition.
Protests in Jerusalem
Dozens of Israelis protested the ceasefire deal in Jerusalem on Saturday night, briefly blocking a main road as they shouted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign and the war to continue.
Many carried faux coffins draped in the Israeli flag as well as banners calling the ceasefire a “betrayal” of Israeli soldiers killed in the war.
Yehoshua Shin, whose son was killed fighting Hamas militants on Oct. 7, criticized the deal for releasing Palestinians from prison and called on American president- elect Donald Trump to scrap the de al until there is “total victory” over the Hamas militant group.
If the deal goes ahead what will happen?
The ceasefire comprises of three stages. 33 hostages held by Hamas are to be released in the first, six-week phase in exchange for 737 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
If it goes ahead, IDF forces will also move east away from densely-populated areas, allowing thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to what remains of their homes.
Aid into Gaza will also be ramped up, with 600 trucks expected to be allowed into the territory every day. A convoy of trucks has been amassing on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing since Friday.
The U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency says it has ratcheted up its preparations for providing aid to Gaza after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas takes effect.
While the details of the second and third phases have been agreed in principle, negotiations to iron out the details are expected to take place during the six weeks of phase one.
Phase two would to see the remaining hostages held by Hamas released and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Phase three would see the bodies of the remaining captives handed over to Israel in return for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan of Gaza to be conducted under international supervision.
How badly is Gaza damaged?
Israel's war against Hamas has decimated vast swathes of the Gaza Strip and displaced around 90% of the population.
In their Interim Damage Assessment report issued in March last year, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank put the cost of rebuilding Gaza’s critical infrastructure at €17.9 billion.
And in October last year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development warned that it could take 350 years for Gaza’s economy to return to pre-war levels if the Israeli blockade of the territory remains in force.
Hamas triggered the war in October 2023 with its cross-border attack into Israel that saw some 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken as hostages back to Gaza.
Israel's military response has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians but health officials in Gaza don't differentiate between civilians and combatants in the count.
