Hamas names hostages set for release following Gaza ceasefire delay
Israel had earlier said it would continue to fight until the names were handed over.
The Hamas militant group has named the three hostages it plans to release on Sunday, potentially clearing the way for the Gaza ceasefire to begin after a delay.
Israel had earlier said it would continue to fight in Gaza until the names were handed over in accordance with the agreement, with the start of the ceasefire delayed by more than two hours as a result.
In that time, at least eight people were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
Hamas blamed the delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons”, but later said it had fulfilled the requirement by publishing the names of three female hostages on social media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Hamas had not lived up to its commitment to provide the names of the three hostages it was set to release in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners.
Celebrations erupted across the war-ravaged territory, and some Palestinians began returning to their homes, even as the delay underscored the fragility of the agreement.
The deal sets in motion a long and uncertain process aimed at ultimately ending the war and returning nearly 100 hostages abducted in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered it.
The names of the three hostages had not been handed over when the deadline for the truce to begin passed at 8.30am local time, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said.
The military later said it had struck a number of militant targets in northern and central Gaza.
Meanwhile, the party of Israel’s hard-line national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said its Cabinet ministers submitted their resignations from the government on Sunday in opposition to the ceasefire. The departure of the Jewish Power party weakens Mr Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the ceasefire.
In a separate development, Israel announced it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier who was killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, in a special operation.
The bodies of Mr Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, remained in Gaza after the 2014 war and had not been returned despite a public campaign by their families.
