Israel says hostage release won’t take place before Friday
Plans to release the first hostages under the deal Israel reached with Hamas were delayed late Wednesday, just hours ahead of the expected beginning of a hard-negotiated pause in fighting, CNN reports.
Israel’s National Security Council said in a statement that the first group of hostages would not be released before Friday. An Israeli official told CNN the start of an agreed temporary truce in fighting has also been delayed until Friday.
“Talks to release our hostages are advancing and are ongoing. The start of the release process will take place according to the original agreement between both sides, and not before Friday,” the statement said.
Israel and Hamas had previously reached a deal to pause fighting for four days and release at least 50 women and children out of the more than 230 being held hostage in Gaza. An Israeli official told CNN Wednesday that the truce had been slated to begin at 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) on Thursday.
On Thursday morning local time, Qatar said it would announce “in the next few hours” when the truce between Israel and Hamas will begin.
Talks about how to implement the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas are ongoing and progressing positively, the spokesperson of the Qatari Foreign Ministry Majed Al Ansari, said according to a Qatar Foreign Ministry statement published on X.
“The work between the two parties, and our partners in Egypt and the US, is ongoing to ensure the speedy implementation of the truce, and to provide what is necessary to ensure that both parties adhere to the agreement,” the statement added.
The comments over ongoing planning echo those from American officials.
A US National Security Council spokesperson stressed in a statement late Wednesday that the hostage deal “remains agreed,” adding that the parties were “working out final logistical details particularly for the first day of implementation.”
“It is our view that nothing should be left to chance as the hostages begin coming home,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said. “Our primary objective is to ensure that they are brought home safely. That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning.”
One Israeli official familiar with the matter downplayed its seriousness, putting it down to “fairly minor implementation details.”
But another official told CNN that part of the reason was that Israel had not yet received names of the first hostages to be released by Hamas.
Speaking at a Wednesday evening press conference held before the delay was announced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence the agreement would soon go into effect, even as he offered few details about its implementation.
