Ceasefire holds as Hamas names 3 Israeli hostages to be released today
Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they would release hostages Iair Horn, US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov on Saturday, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire with Israel.
The announcement, after days of uncertainty about whether the ceasefire agreed last month would hold, followed intense efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to keep last month’s US-backed agreement on track.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel accepted the list but that was later corrected to say Israel had received the list, which it said was a “purely factual description” that did not reflect any Israeli approach to the issue.
Hamas said Israel was expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange.
Saudi Arabia is spearheading urgent Arab efforts to develop a plan for Gaza’s future as a counter to US President Donald Trump’s ambition for a West Asian Riviera cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants, 10 sources said.
Draft ideas will be discussed at a meeting in Riyadh this month of countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The latest proposal involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement, international participation in reconstruction without displacing Gazans abroad.
