Hamas has not provided names of hostages to be released on Sunday
With a ceasefire due to begin on Sunday morning, Hamas has not provided Israel with a list of the first three hostages set to be released in the afternoon.

Israelis rally in Tel Aviv in support of the ceasefire agreement on Jan. 18, 2025. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS-IL
“The prime minister instructed the [Israel Defence Forces] that the ceasefire, which is scheduled to take effect at 8:30 AM, will not begin until Israel has the list of released hostages, which Hamas has pledged to provide,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a Sunday morning statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas is to provide Israeli authorities with a list of hostages 24 hours before their release during the first phase of the ceasefire. While the ceasefire is supposed to begin at 8:30 AM, the first three hostages were expected to leave Gaza at 4:30 PM.
The first phase of the ceasefire will see 33 Israeli hostages freed over a period of several days in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. The exact number will depend on how many of the 33 hostages are alive.
Meanwhile, Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected a legal petition against the release of the Palestinians.
The Forum for Voters in the Lives of the Bereaved Families and Victims of Terror, which filed the petition, said in response, “What we said in the petition is that the reckless decision has been made, the streets will be filled with murderers, and there is no one to save them. Not the political echelon, not the security echelon, and not the legal echelon. We call on all Israeli citizens to hug their children tightly and arm themselves, because you will need the weapons to protect them and yourselves.”
Also dividing Israelis is that the fate of the remaining 65 hostages will be determined by negotiations to begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire. Critics say the phased approach condemns hostages not freed in the beginning to open-ended captivity and undermines Israel’s war gains.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 95 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.