Hours before the start of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Prime Minister insists on the right to resume the war after a “pause”

Qatar and the Israeli military announced on Saturday that the ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip would come into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time. Hours later, the first Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were to be released under the agreement.

However, as of Saturday evening, Israel had not received the names of the three hostages expected to be released by 4 p.m. Sunday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal would not move forward without that list. Hamas was supposed to have provided the names by Saturday afternoon.

In his first public comments on the deal, made in a 10-minute pre-recorded video released Saturday evening, Netanyahu called the first stage of the hostage release deal a “temporary ceasefire” and stressed that the US President Joe Biden and US President-elect Donald Trump had stressed that Israel could resume fighting in Gaza if the next steps in the agreement do not materialize.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said on X: “In accordance with the coordination of the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin on Sunday January 19 at 8:30 a.m. Gaza local time. We advise residents to take precautions, exercise extreme caution and wait for instructions from official sources. The Israeli army also confirmed in a statement the start time of the ceasefire.

Israel expected to receive by Saturday evening the names of the first three hostages who will be released on Sunday. The officials said Hamas was to give the names to the Qataris, who would then inform Mossad chief David Barnea, who would then notify the families.

However, on Saturday evening, the prime minister’s office said Israel had still not received the list of names, in violation of the terms of the agreement.

“We will not move forward on any major issues until we have received a list of hostages to be released, as agreed,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. “Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility lies with Hamas.”

The agreement, which was signed Friday morning in Doha and ratified by Israel Saturday morning, stipulates that Hamas is required to provide the names of hostages at least 24 hours before their release.

The first three hostages freed on Sunday will be civilian women on the list of 33 hostages to be released during the first 42-day phase of the Israel-Hamas deal, according to Israeli officials.

The Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for the three hostages will not be released until the first hostages return to Israel. Some 95 prisoners are to be released in exchange for the three Israeli women.

In exchange for the 33 hostages, Israel will hand over, by the end of the first phase, up to 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terrorist attacks and murders.

In his video address, Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until “all of its war objectives are achieved,” which includes the return of every hostage held in Gaza. He added that the United States had promised that Israel would have the weapons it needed to resume fighting if necessary, and said Israel would do so “in new ways and with great power.”

“In the agreement approved just now, we will recover 33 more of our brothers and sisters, most of them alive,” he said at the start of his video statement, making no initial mention in his remarks of the potential later phases of the deal. under which the remaining 65 hostages are to be released and a permanent ceasefire established in Gaza.

Netanyahu said the deal was the result of Israel’s resistance to external and domestic pressure, and cooperation with the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration.

“President Trump joined the mission to free the hostages upon his election,” Netanyahu said. “He spoke to me on Wednesday evening and was happy with the deal. (Trump) rightly emphasized that the first step in the deal is a temporary ceasefire. “That’s what he said: ‘A temporary ceasefire’.”

“Both President Trump and President Biden have fully supported Israel’s right to resume fighting if Israel concludes that negotiations on the second phase are going nowhere,” he clarified, declaring: “I greatly appreciate this.”

Increase in aid

Under the first phase of the deal, a major increase in humanitarian aid will also flow into Gaza, with Egypt announcing that 50 tankers are expected to enter the strip when the ceasefire begins on Sunday morning.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, whose country negotiated the deal with Qatar and the United States, said the agreement provided for “the entry of 600 trucks per day into the Gaza Strip, of which 50 fuel trucks.”

Hundreds of trucks lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing – previously a vital entry point for aid, closed by Egypt since last May, when Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side.

At a joint news conference Saturday with his Nigerian counterpart, Abdelatty said: “We hope that 300 trucks will go to the north of the Gaza Strip,” where thousands of people are stuck in conditions that humanitarian agencies say desperate.

According to a BBC report, citing a senior Palestinian official, as part of security arrangements between Israel and Hamas under the upcoming ceasefire, Israel will allow Hamas police officers who deal with the civilian population to operate in their blue uniforms in certain areas of Gaza. .

The report said Hamas police officers will supervise the movements of internally displaced people in Gaza, but will avoid areas where IDF troops remain stationed in the strip. They will carry weapons when they have to, and Egyptian and Qatari officials will help mediate in the event of conflict between the parties.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it had begun preparations for the ceasefire and was ready to receive hostages and “implement operational procedures” dictated by the agreement, likely referring to the withdrawal of IDF troops from populated areas of Gaza under certain agreed conditions. areas.

“The IDF is preparing to receive the hostages upon their release from Hamas captivity and is acting to provide appropriate physical and psychological support, paying close attention to every detail,” the statement continued.

“Along with the agreement and our commitment to repatriate all hostages, the IDF will continue to operate to ensure the safety of all Israeli citizens, particularly those in communities close to the Gaza Strip,” the statement added.

As part of the preparations, the IDF has established three compounds near the border with Gaza to receive the released hostages, where they will meet with IDF representatives, including doctors, psychologists and mental health workers.

The complexes were erected at the Reim base, at the Kerem Shalom crossing and at the Erez crossing. Hostages released from Gaza will reach one of three sites depending on their release route.

The 99th military division will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, the 162nd division will be responsible for defending the northern area of ​​Gaza, and the Gaza division will be responsible for the southern part of the strip. The Gaza Division will also gradually withdraw from parts of the Philadelphia Corridor area as part of the agreement.

As part of the first stage of the deal, the Israeli military said Palestinian civilians would not be allowed to return to areas where the army is present, as well as areas near the border.

“The IDF has clear lines of defense and is ready to eliminate threats. Any threat to our forces will be met with an aggressive response,” the military said.

The ceasefire agreement, approved Friday evening by the Israeli government, will end the 15-month war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which began when the Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel. Israel, killing more than 1,200 people. and the kidnapping of 251 hostages during their assault on October 7, 2023.

An estimated 94 of the hostages kidnapped in the Hamas attack remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas freed 105 civilians during a week-long truce in late November, and four hostages had previously been freed. Eight hostages were rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages were also found, including three mistakenly killed by the army while trying to escape their captors.

Hamas also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in 2014.