Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they would release hostages Iair Horn, U.S.-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov on Saturday, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire with Israel.
The announcement, after days of uncertainty about whether the ceasefire agreed last month would hold, followed intense efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to keep last month’s U.S.-backed agreement on track.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel accepted the list.
Hamas had earlier threatened not to release more hostages after it accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire by blocking aid from entering Gaza, drawing counterthreats of a resumption of fighting from Israel.
The Palestinian group agreed last month to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and older men, in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, during a 42-dy truce in which Israeli forces would pull back from some of their positions in Gaza.
The truce was intended to open the way for a second phase of negotiations to return remaining hostages and complete the withdrawal of Israeli forces before a final end to the war and the rebuilding of Gaza.
Doubts about whether the deal would hold grew sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump called for Palestinians to be moved permanently out of Gaza and for the enclave to be turned over to the United States to be redeveloped.
After 15 months of fighting, Gaza now lies largely in ruins and it remains unclear how it will be rebuilt.
Israel invaded the coastal enclave after Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and taking more than 250 as hostages.
The Israeli campaign killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, destroyed many of its buildings and left most of the population homeless.
(Reuters)
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