The agreement stipulates the release of three Palestinian hostages during the first day of the cessation of hostilities
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will begin at 7:30 a.m. Sunday (mainland Spain and Balearic Islands time), according to a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry on his social network account X.
“We recommend that residents take precautions, exercise maximum caution and await instructions from official sources,” said the spokesman, Majed al Ansari, whose country has acted as mediator in the talks.
The announcement of the exact time of the start of the truce comes at the end of a night in which the Israeli government’s plenary session ratified the terms of the truce that the Israeli security cabinet (the ministers in charge of national defense with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the head) had previously accepted on Friday evening.
In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Justice has also published last night a preliminary list with the names of 735 Palestinian prisoners who will be released “as part of the plan for the release of the hostages.”
The Israeli government points out, however, that no Palestinian prisoner will leave his cell before this coming Sunday at 3:00 p.m., the time from which the exchange of prisoners for 33 of the hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian militias should begin, according to the first phase of the agreement.
Specifically, the text stipulates that three hostages would be released this coming Sunday, the first day of the ceasefire, and four more the following Sunday.
Three hostages would then be released per week over a four-week period. The remaining 14 hostages will be released in the sixth and final week of the first phase of the agreement, according to the terms of the deal.
