Скачать или смотреть Gaza ceasefire delayed as Hamas fails to provide names of first hostages to be freed

(19 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Khan Younis, Gaza Strip - 19 January 2025
1. Wide high shot of people in street and tents
2. Various of trucks driving with Hamas militants standing with guns at back, crowds cheering and climbing onto vehicles - high wide shot

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip - 19 January 2025
2. People by the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah as ceasefire is delayed

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Southern Israel - 19 January 2025
3. Smoke on Gaza skyline as ceasefire is delayed
STORYLINE:
The deadline for the start of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip passed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had not lived up to its commitment to provide the names of the three hostages it was set to release later on Sunday in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners.

The list had not been handed over when the deadline for the truce to begin passed at 8:30 a.m. local time, (6:30 a.m GMT Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said.

He said the army “continues to attack, even now, inside the Gaza arena," and would until Hamas complies with the agreement.

Hamas blamed the delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons.” It said in a statement that it is committed to the ceasefire deal announced last week.

An Israeli official said mediators have provided assurances that the list will be delivered and the deal is still expected to go forward, though the timing remains in question. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing efforts to resolve the matter.

Netanyahu said he had instructed the military that the ceasefire “will not begin until Israel has in its possession the list of hostages to be freed, which Hamas committed to provide.” He had issued a similar warning the night before.

The planned ceasefire, agreed after a year of intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, is the first step in a long and fragile process aimed at winding down the 15-month war.

The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see a total of 33 hostages returned from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Israeli forces should pull back into a buffer zone inside Gaza, and many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home. The devastated territory should also see a surge in humanitarian aid.

This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than the weeklong pause over a year ago, with the potential to end the fighting for good.

Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in just over two weeks. Major questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the six-week first phase and how the rest of the nearly 100 hostages in Gaza will be freed.

Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire early Saturday in a rare session during the Jewish Sabbath, more than two days after mediators announced the deal. The warring sides were under pressure from both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump to achieve a deal before the U.S. presidential inauguration on Monday.

The toll of the war has been immense, and new details on its scope will now emerge.

Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war killed over 1,200. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died.


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