Israel has announced that the dispute over the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages with Hamas in Gaza has been now resolved.
Hamas is scheduled to release six hostages in two stages this week, including Arbel Yehud and soldier Agam Berger.
According to the Hebrew newspaper Israel Times, Hamas has sent a detailed list of the conditions for the remaining hostages to be released in the first phase of the 42-day ceasefire, which began on January 19.
Israel had previously considered Hamas’s failure to send this list by last Saturday and its failure to release Arbel Yehud as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Following the new agreement to release Arbel Yehud, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the army will allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people from Gaza to return to northern Gaza via the Nitzarim crossing starting Monday morning.
Netanyahu’s office stated that Israel reached the agreement with Hamas after ‘strong and decisive negotiations’, emphasizing that it “will not tolerate any violation of the agreement.”
This statement came shortly after the Qatari Foreign Ministry issued similar details, and the United States welcomed the developments and commended the Israeli government. According to the agreement, Yehud, Berger, and a third hostage whose identity has not been revealed will be released on Thursday, and three other hostages will be released on Saturday as planned.
Earlier, NBC News reported that Keith Siegel, 65, an American citizen, will be released next week, although there was no confirmation and it remained unclear whether this would happen on Thursday or Saturday.
In exchange for the hostages, Israel will release Palestinian security prisoners – 30 prisoners for each civilian, and 50 prisoners for Berger, including 30 terrorists serving life sentences.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
