By Abdul Raouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel announced Monday that it was examining the names of the fourth batch of hostages to be released by Hamas later in the day as part of an prisoner swap deal.
"Discussions are being held on the list that was received overnight and which is now being evaluated in Israel," the country's prime minister's office said in a statement.
"Additional information will be issued when possible," the statement added.
Upon completing the procedure on Monday, Israel will have released 150 jailed Palestinians from its prisons in exchange for 50 Israelis held by resistance group Hamas.
The prisoner swap is part of a temporary four-day pause that began on Friday, also including the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his government would accept an extension of the humanitarian pause in Gaza in exchange for the release of more hostages.
*Writing by Ziad Aslan in Ankara