Hamas provides list of 4 hostages to be freed Saturday that violates ceasefire deal
Israel at warIsraeli officials hold consultations

Hamas provides list of 4 hostages to be freed Saturday that violates ceasefire deal

Agreement calls for Gaza-ruling terror group to release female civilians before women soldiers

The 33 hostages  returned in phase one of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Row 1 (L-R): Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, Arbel Yehud, Doron Steinbrecher, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Shiri Bibas; Row 2: Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Danielle Gilboa, Naama Levy, Ohad Ben-Ami, Gadi Moshe Moses; Row 3: Keith Siegel, Ofer Calderon, Eli Sharabi, Itzik Elgarat, Shlomo Mansour, Ohad Yahalomi, Oded Lifshitz; Row 4: Tsahi Idan, Hisham al-Sayed, Yarden Bibas, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Yair Horn, Omer Wenkert, Sasha Trufanov; Row 5: Eliya Cohen, Or Levy, Avera Mengistu, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov (all photos courtesy)
The 33 hostages returned in phase one of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Row 1 (L-R): Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, Arbel Yehud, Doron Steinbrecher, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Shiri Bibas; Row 2: Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Danielle Gilboa, Naama Levy, Ohad Ben-Ami, Gadi Moshe Moses; Row 3: Keith Siegel, Ofer Calderon, Eli Sharabi, Itzik Elgarat, Shlomo Mansour, Ohad Yahalomi, Oded Lifshitz; Row 4: Tsahi Idan, Hisham al-Sayed, Yarden Bibas, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Yair Horn, Omer Wenkert, Sasha Trufanov; Row 5: Eliya Cohen, Or Levy, Avera Mengistu, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov (all photos courtesy)

Hamas on Friday published the names of four female Israeli hostages who the terror group is set to release the following day after 477 days in captivity, with the list appearing to violate the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Senior Israeli officials were holding consultations on the matter.

Under the agreement, female civilians are to be released first, then female soldiers, followed by the elderly and then those who are deemed extremely ill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Israel received the four names, saying a comment on the list would be issued later.

At the request of Israeli officials, media outlets are not publishing the names until the families of the hostages have been notified.

There are seven remaining female hostages from the original list of 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

They include civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33; and soldiers Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, Agam Berger, 21, Danielle Gilboa, 20, and Naama Levy, 20.

Israel reportedly conveyed to Hamas that it expects Yehud to be released this weekend, when the remaining female civilian captives are slated to be freed. Yehud is thought to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group and not Hamas, apparently leading to concern in Jerusalem that Hamas may attempt to put off her release.

Silberman Bibas, the other civilian, was kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught alongside her two young sons Ariel and Kfir, now aged 5 and 2, who are also on the list of 33 hostages to be released in the hostage agreement’s first stage. Her husband Yarden Bibas, who was captured separately, is likewise on the list.

On Saturday, Hamas is expected to provide Israel with details on the status of the 30 remaining hostages on the list, providing long-sought specifics on which hostages were alive.

Following the scheduled release of the second group of hostages, Israel is set to free another batch of Palestinian security prisoners. The agreement stipulates that for each of the female soldiers, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of them convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences. On Monday, Israel released 30 prisoners for each of the three civilian female hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher — Hamas set free the previous afternoon.

Ninety-one of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January. PJC

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

read more:
comments