Israeli PM Netanyahu Says Gaza Ceasefire Will Not Begin Until Hostage Names Released

JERUSALEM, Reuters: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military not to begin the ceasefire in Gaza, scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), until Hamas issued the names of the hostages to be released, his office said on Sunday.

“The prime minister instructed the IDF that the ceasefire, which is supposed to go into effect at 8:30 a.m., will not begin until Israel has the list of released abductees that Hamas has pledged to provide,” his office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes and artillery attacked the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday and Palestinian medics said eight people were killed shortly after Israel and Hamas missed a deadline for a ceasefire that could pave the way for halting the Middle East’s most devastating conflict in years.

The delay in implementing the ceasefire and the latest violence came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked, an hour before the 0630 GMT deadline, that Hamas provide the names of three hostages it was to release on Sunday as part of the agreement.

Hamas said it was committed to the ceasefire but that it had been unable so far to provide the hostage list for “technical field reasons”, without elaborating.

The ceasefire deal could help usher in an end to the Gaza war, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the tiny coastal territory, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel’s response decimated the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza-based health authorities. The war also set off a confrontation throughout the Middle East between Israel and its arch-foe Iran, which backs Hamas and other anti-Israeli and anti-American paramilitary forces across the region.

Israeli military spokespeople said in separate statements on Sunday that their aircraft and artillery had attacked “terror targets” in northern and central Gaza, and that the military would continue to attack the strip as long as Hamas did not meet its obligations under the ceasefire.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said that at least eight people were killed in the Israeli attacks and dozens wounded. Medics reported tanks firing at the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, and said that an airstrike and tank fire also hit the northern town of Beit Hanoun, sending residents who had returned there in anticipation of the ceasefire fleeing.

An air raid siren that sounded in the Sderot area of southern Irael had been a false alarm, the Israeli military said in a separate statement.