After hours of delay, the Gaza ceasefire came into effect on Sunday after Hamas released the names of the first three Israeli hostages to be freed, pausing a 15-month-old war that has brought devastation and seismic political change to the Middle East. Israel said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 11:15 am local time (09:15 GMT and 2:45 pm IST), nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During the delay, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people. The Israeli military also confirmed it was continuing “to strike within the Gaza area” following Netanyahu’s directive.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said three people were killed in the north of the territory and five in Gaza City, with 25 wounded.
Delay In Deal Implementation
In a statement issued less than an hour before the truce had been set to start, Netanyahu’s office said he had “instructed the IDF (military) that the ceasefire… will not begin until Israel has received the list” of hostages to be freed.
Hamas, meanwhile, attributed the delay in sharing the list to “technical reasons”, as well as the “complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing”, ultimately publishing the names of three Israeli women to be released on Sunday nearly three hours after the deadline.
A Palestinian official familiar with the matter told Reuters the delay occurred because mediators had asked for 48 hours of “calm” before the ceasefire’s implementation, but continued Israeli strikes right up until the deadline had made it difficult to send the list.
Two hours after the deadline, Israel confirmed it had received the list and was “checking the details”, before confirming shortly afterwards that the truce would begin at 11:15 am local time.
Hamas has reportedly named the hostages it was to release on Sunday as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.
