Israel expects Hamas on Friday to deliver a list of three hostages to be released on Saturday, an Israeli official familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is expected to send the list to Mossad chief David Barnea.
The expected release this weekend would settle a crisis threatening to unravel an already fragile ceasefire and follows Hamas’s threat earlier this week to withhold the hostages unless Israel fulfills its humanitarian obligations.
Hamas claimed Israel has not allowed all the agreed-upon humanitarian aid to enter Gaza as stipulated in the agreement and has not allowed enough Palestinians who were forced to relocate south to return to the north.
Israel accused Hamas of breaching the agreement, including on Thursday evening when the military said Hamas had fired a rocket from Gaza that landed in the enclave. The military subsequently struck the launcher, it said.
Hamas, whose Political Bureau chief Khalil Al-Hayya is visiting Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials, also said both Egyptian and Qatari mediators would press on with efforts “to remove obstacles and close gaps.”
On Thursday, Hamas stated that Israel agreed to allow prefabricated housing and heavy equipment for rubble removal into Gaza. However, the prime minister’s spokesperson, Omer Dostri, dismissed these reports as “fake news” in a post on X/Twitter.
An Israeli official told the Post that, “as of now,” nothing will enter through the Rafah border crossing, but “things might change in the coming days.” The source added that any equipment and housing units – if allowed entry – would come through an Israeli border crossing, where they would be inspected and cleared by security personnel before reaching Gaza.
Hamas also stated on Thursday that it remains committed to implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The terrorist group clarified that it would continue releasing hostages “as scheduled,” meaning only three hostages on Saturday. This runs contrary to US President Donald Trump’s demand to release “all of the hostages” and some calls by Israeli officials to release all nine remaining hostages who are alive and supposed to be freed throughout the rest of phase one of the deal.
If not, both Trump and Israeli officials threatened, “the gates of hell will open.”
Hostages are priority
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive in the region, including Israel, on Saturday. A diplomatic source told the Post that there is also a possibility that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, will visit in the coming days.
Two officials told the Post that the current goal is to accelerate the release of the remaining nine living hostages. “After seeing the images of the hostages’ condition last week, we need to get them out as fast as possible,” said one source. Another Israeli objective is to expand the list of hostages released in phase one.
The current agreement says Hamas is to release 33 hostages, some of them dead, but there are attempts to change the number. “Every hostage is a ‘humanitarian case’ – the criterion for those being released in phase one,” said the source. “Everyone is waiting to see what happens on Saturday.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Thursday with senior defense officials at Southern Command to discuss operational plans for various scenarios as military forces have gathered near the Gaza border.Reuters contributed to this report.
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