Hamas on Friday announced the names of three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees after a delay that underlined the obstacles hanging over a fragile deal meant to end the war in Gaza.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on Oct 7, 2023, and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas said.
The Hamas prisoners’ media office said Israel was expected to free 183 Palestinians in exchange, including 18 who have been serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 who were detained in the Gaza Strip during the war.
Earlier the Palestinian militant group accused Israel of breaching their ceasefire accord and held off announcing the names of the three Israelis until a 4 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) deadline had passed. It was not immediately clear whether the delay would affect the scheduled exchange on Saturday.
Hamas accused Israel of delaying the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal that took effect on January 19, and holding back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide shelter to people returning to their bombed-out homes.
“This demonstrates clear manipulation of relief and shelter priorities,” Hamas said in a statement.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation and warned that Israel would “not tolerate violations by Hamas.”
The spat compounds the uncertainty around the ceasefire that had already mounted following U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement this week that he expected Gaza to be taken over by the United States.
Trump said on Tuesday he wanted to move the population of Gaza to a third country like Egypt or Jordan and place the small coastal enclave under U.S. control to be developed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The statement underlined the fragility of the deal reached last month with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Trump’s vision for Gaza as a “remarkable” plan, but it was immediately rejected by Arab countries, Palestinian groups including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and many Gazans, who said they would rebuild their homes and restaurants themselves.
However Israeli leaders have repeated that Palestinians who wish should be able to leave and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow for the departure of Gaza residents who wanted to go.
