British-Israeli Emily Damari is among the hostages to be released today after a delay in the ceasefire deal. The ceasefire was due to start at 6.30am today but it was delayed after Israel said Hamas had not provided a list of the hostages up for release.
Sunday 19 January 2025 08:51, UK
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British-Israeli Emily Damari is among the hostages to be released today.
The 28-year-old grew up in southeast London and moved to Israel during her 20s, where she raised a family on the Kfar Aza kibbutz.
She was abducted during the 7 October Hamas attack when she was “shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, blindfolded, bundled into the back of her own car, and driven back to Gaza”, according to her mother.
Hamas has released the names of the three Israeli hostages to be freed on the first day of the implementation of the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
One of them is a British-Israeli citizen named Emily Damari, 28.
The other two names are Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31.
By Alistair Bunkall, Middle East correspondent
8.30am has come and gone. The ceasefire that so many millions in Gaza and Israel had been desperately hoping for, has not happened.
Seconds later, black smoke started rising above northern Gaza in what must have been a message from the IDF to Hamas: this is what is at stake; abide by terms of the deal, release the names of the three hostages due to be handed over today, otherwise the war will continue.
Hamas blame “technical field reasons”, which I understand might relate to their difficulties passing messages between their leadership in Gaza. They have long avoided mobile phones to prevent detection by the Israeli military.
Many in Israel will naturally blame Hamas for playing games and risking the lives of the hostages and the Gazan people.
If we’re looking for optimism during these tense moments then the fact that Hamas has taken responsibility, rather than blaming Israel, might be encouraging.
But so many hours and months have been expended during the negotiation of this deal, and thousands of lives lost as round-after-round broke down, so for it to be delayed because Hamas hasn’t given the first three names to Israel is deeply frustrating.
The mediating teams knew the ceasefire would be shaky, they knew that there would be bumps in the road and have encouraged both Israel and Hamas to remain calm as any difficulties are worked through.
They already have an early test to overcome, and before the ceasefire has even begun.
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has resigned from government in opposition to the ceasefire deal.
The far-right minister has previously criticised the deal as giving in to Hamas and threatened to resign if it was approved.
Two other ministers from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit’s party have also resigned over the deal.
The Otzma Yehudit party is no longer part of the ruling coalition but has said it will not try to bring down Netanyahu’s government.
Israel has received the names of hostages to be released on the first day of the planned ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Israel’s Channel 12 reports.
We are still awaiting official confirmation that the names have been passed on to the Israelis.
Just moments earlier, a Hamas official had told Reuters that the names of Israeli hostages to be released would be delivered soon.
Israeli military strikes killed at least eight Palestinians across the Gaza Strip amid a delay in the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian civil emergency service has said.
Earlier we brought you comments from Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari who said the truce would not begin until Hamas handed over the names of three hostages to be released later on Sunday, echoing an earlier statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The truce had been set to go into effect at 6.30am (UK time).
The ceasefire was set to pause the fighting after 15 months of war and see the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Large plumes of smoke have been rising over northern Gaza amid reports from the IDF that they are carrying out strikes.
The Israeli military said earlier they had struck “terror targets” in northern and central Gaza and were “continuing to operate” in the region.
Sirens have also been sounding in communities near the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.
After 470 days of war, the truce that was set to come in place between Israel and Hamas at 6.30am this morning has been delayed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the truce would not begin until Hamas provided a list of the hostages who were to be released during the day.
Hamas said the delay was due to “technical” reasons.
Here, our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall looks at why the deal has been delayed…
Reports are coming through from the Israel military that the IDF have struck “terror targets” in northern and central Gaza this morning.
In a statement, the IDF said it was “continuing to operate and strike terror targets in the Gaza Strip”.
“A short while ago, IDF artillery and aircraft struck a number of terror targets in northern and central Gaza,” the military said.
“The IDF remains ready in defence and offence and will not allow any harm to the citizens of Israel.”
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said that the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was delayed as Hamas had not fulfilled its obligation to send Israel the list of hostages to be released on the first day.
As the scheduled time for the ceasefire to start at 6.30am passed, Israeli tanks continued to shell areas in Gaza.
And in a brief televised address, Hagari said the government had directed the military to delay implementation and that it retained freedom to continue attacks in the Gaza Strip as long as the ceasefire had not taken effect.
Hagari said the military was completely ready to implement the ceasefire but it was also ready to act in case Hamas broke the terms of the deal.
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