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Hamas is expected to provide the list of hostages slated for release on Sunday within hours, the Saudi television channel Al Hadath reported on Saturday.
Despite prior commitments, Hamas missed the 4:30 p.m. deadline but reportedly assured mediators it would submit the list soon after transferring them to a secure location, according to Saudi network Al Arabiya. Israeli officials remain confident that the plan will proceed as scheduled.
The government approved the cease-fire agreement with Hamas early Saturday, set to take effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m., 415 days after the first truce following the December 2023 hostage deal and 471 days since the October 7 massacre that sparked the war. Under the deal’s initial phase, 33 hostages will be released over 42 days, starting with three hostages scheduled for release Sunday evening in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
The truce requires the IDF to begin a gradual withdrawal from populated areas in Gaza. The release of the first three hostages is expected to start no earlier than 4 p.m. Sunday. Israeli officials have expressed readiness for delays and violations, with one senior source warning of Hamas’ likely use of psychological warfare and propaganda throughout the deal.
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The agreement’s first violation has already occurred, with Hamas missing the deadline to deliver the names of the first hostages. "There is a high probability of delays and manipulations by Hamas, starting on day one," an Israeli official said. "As a terrorist organization, they will subject Israeli families to psychological warfare."
Once the hostages are handed over to Israel under Red Cross mediation, 90 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons and transferred to the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
The deal’s future remains uncertain, as the agreement’s second phase, involving the release of additional hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full withdrawal from Gaza, has not been finalized.
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Israeli hostages transported to Israel as part of the previous hostage deal, Novmber 2023
(Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
As part of the first phase of the deal approved by the government, hostages described as belonging to "humanitarian categories" will be released, including women, children (Kfir and Ariel Bibas), IDF observer soldiers abducted from the Nahal Oz outpost, elderly men over 50 and civilians with medical needs. Long-term captives Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, held in Gaza for over a decade, are also included.
The first hostages to be released are women, beginning with those abducted from kibbutzim and the Nova music festival, followed by five female observers. The full list of living hostages is expected on the seventh day of the agreement, but all living hostages are set to be released before the remains of the deceased are returned. Israeli officials estimate that out of the 33 hostages to be returned in the first phase, at least 25 are alive.
The second phase of the agreement is set to begin on the seventh day, though it is unclear whether it will fall on the following Saturday or Sunday. In this phase, four additional women will be released. Starting on the 14th day of the deal, three hostages will be released every seven days until the end of the fifth week. During the sixth and final week, the remaining 13 hostages, including al-Sayed and Mengistu, will be released.