CAIRO: The Palestinian Hamas movement has handed over to mediators a list of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip that it plans to relea...
CAIRO: The Palestinian Hamas movement has handed over to mediators a list of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip that it plans to release in the first stage of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the enclave, the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
"On Sunday night, Hamas handed over to the mediators the necessary information regarding the list of captives [hostages] to be released during the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement," the movement said. Hamas did not specify how many names were on the list or what specific information it was referring to.
For its part, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that it had received from Hamas a list with the data of all the hostages to be released from the Gaza Strip in the first phase of the agreement. In addition, Israeli authorities received information that Israeli citizen Arbel Yehud will be released on January 30, along with soldier Agam Berger and "another kidnapped person" whose name has not yet been disclosed. In exchange, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will allow Gaza residents to move into the northern part of the enclave starting on the morning of January 27.
On Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli side will not allow Gaza Strip residents to return to the north of the enclave until the situation with hostage Arbel Yehud is resolved. According to the office, she was to be released on January 25 as part of the past exchange of a group of hostages taken by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated after armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip infiltrated into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, killing residents in border settlements and seizing more than 240 hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave with the aim to destroy Hamas and secure the release of the abductees. The Israeli operation killed at least 47,000 Palestinians and injured 111,000 more between October 2023 and January 2025.
On January 15, mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States announced an agreement between Israel and Hamas on the release of hostages and the establishment of a ceasefire. On January 19, it went into effect. In the first phase of the deal, which will last 42 days, Hamas will release 33 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Jewish jails. The radicals released three hostages on the first day, while the Israeli authorities released 90 prisoners. Israel’s ambassador to Russia, Simona Galperin, told TASS that the list of 33 hostages included Russian citizen Alexander Trufanov, who also holds Israeli citizenship.
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