Israel-Hamas ceasefire delayed
CBC
A ceasefire in Gaza set for Sunday morning was delayed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Hamas to provide a list of the hostages who were to be released during the day and Hamas said it could not do so for "technical" reasons.
An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement given at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. EST), when the ceasefire was meant to take effect, that Hamas was not meeting its obligations and that Israel would continue to attack as long as Hamas did not meet its demands.
The highly-anticipated ceasefire would open the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.
Netanyahu announced one hour before the ceasefire was meant to take effect that it would not begin until Hamas provided a list of the first three hostages who were meant to be released on Sunday.
"The prime minister instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) that the ceasefire, which is supposed to go into effect at 8:30 a.m., will not begin until Israel has the list of released abductees that Hamas has pledged to provide," his office said on Sunday.
Hamas affirmed its commitment to the Gaza ceasefire deal and said the delay in disclosing the names of hostages to be released in first phase was due to "technical field reasons", without elaborating.
Israeli forces had started withdrawing from areas in Gaza's Rafah to the Philadelphi corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza, pro-Hamas media reported early on Sunday.
Explosions were heard in Gaza right up until the deadline. At 0630 GMT (8:30 a.m. local time), Gazans cheered and some gunshots were heard being fired into the air in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel's military warned Gaza residents not to approach its troops or move around the Palestinian territory ahead of the ceasefire deadline, adding when movement is allowed "a statement and instructions will be issued on safe transit methods."
The three-stage ceasefire agreement followed months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and came just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.
Its first stage will last six weeks, during which 33 of the remaining 98 hostages — women, children, men over 50, the ill and wounded — will be released in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
They include 737 male, female and teenaged prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.
Three female hostages are expected to be released on Sunday afternoon through the Red Cross, in return for 30 prisoners each.
After Sunday's hostage release, lead U.S. negotiator Brett McGurk said, the accord calls for four more female hostages to be freed after seven days, followed by the release of three further hostages every seven days thereafter.
