Hamas has released the names of three hostages, scheduled to be released on Saturday, in exchange for Israeli Palestinian prisoners, after days of fear about the future of a ceasefire.
They are Alexander Torfanov of Russia and Israel, Argentina Israel Yea Horn, and the US Israel Heron Dekel Chen.
Israel says it will resume bombing if the three are not released on time. The warning comes after Hamas said it was postponing the release in response to suspected violation of Israel’s ceasefire.
President Trump said the ceasefire should be scrapped if Hamas did not release all hostages held in Gaza by noon on Saturday.
Since the ceasefire began on January 19, five Thai hostages have been released in exchange for 16 Israelis and 566 prisoners.
During the first six weeks of the ceasefire, a total of 33 hostages should be released in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israel.
The war was caused by Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. At that time, the gunman killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
More than 48,230 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamasran Health Ministry.
On October 7th, 73 hostages still being held in Gaza are being filmed. There are also three other Israeli hostages – one of them dead – they have been detained in Gaza for over a decade.
Alexander Torfanov, 29, Iar Horn, 46, and 36-year-old Sagui Dekel Chen were all seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz on the edge of Gaza.
The ceasefire has been tense since it began, with each side acting in a way that reverses allegations of violation. The intense efforts of us, Egypt and Qatar, as mediators, were able to stop it from falling apart.
Israel has been particularly upset with the step-by-step way in which hostages were released. It’s revealed in front of a crowd of gunmen and spectators before being handed over to the Red Cross in a chaotic scene.
Hamas accused the group of saying that Israel was the amount of tents and aid truck needed to enter Gaza under the conditions of a ceasefire. Israel denies this.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of what they said was a rocket fired in Israel from Gaza on Thursday. He said the rocket failed and landed in Gaza. Hamaslan police sources said the rocket was a misfire Israeli ordinance that fired into the air while it was fleeing, Reuters reported.
The West Bank-based Palestinian communications agency WAFA said 14-year-old boy Hamoudh was killed on the same day as an Israeli weapon that exploded in a Nusirat refugee camp in Gaza.
