Israel receives list of hostages to be released by Hamas

By Abdel Rauf Arnaut

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel confirmed Thursday that it has received an initial list of hostages scheduled to be released by Hamas.

“The relevant officials are checking the details of the list and are currently in contact with all families,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Qatar earlier on Thursday said that a planned humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip will start at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT) on Friday.

“The first group of civilian hostages will be swapped at around 4 p.m. on Friday,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference in Doha.

He said 50 hostages will be released in four days.

​​​​​​​“The first group of hostages will include 13 women and children,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced that an agreement on a four-day humanitarian pause was achieved between Israel and Hamas.

Israel estimates that at least 239 Israelis are being held by Hamas following the cross-border attack by the Palestinian group on Oct. 7.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack, killing more than 14,500 Palestinians, including over 6,000 children and 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s attacks on the besieged enclave.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.