'Israel was supposed to have a list of three out of 33 hostages that are slated to be released'

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00:00It's unclear at this point.

00:02Late last night, it still appeared to be kind of a bit of a push and pull of narratives

00:07between Hamas and the Israeli government.

00:10It's important to note that while the ceasefire agreement does oblige Hamas to inform Israel

00:16ahead of time who are the hostages to be released, there's not a specific hour given.

00:23That said, now it is definitely late, and people here are still trying to figure out

00:29if Hamas is using sort of what's left of its ability to manipulate Israeli public opinion,

00:36if this is part of a game, or if in fact there's a real problem on the ground and therefore

00:41a real impediment to the launch of this very important ceasefire, something that is preventing

00:47it from being able to actually provide Israel with this list.

00:53And it's, you know, this doesn't augur well for the start of what was supposed to be a

00:58really important process today, but I think we have to wait and see if in the next hour

01:03or two they manage to rectify the situation and things get back on track.

01:07We're waiting now any second for a statement from the Israeli army spokesman in this respect.

01:13And just to take us back on that process, what is the plan meant to be?

01:22The plan was meant to be really right now, 8.30am, Israel time for the guns to cease firing.

01:30And Israel was already supposed to have a list of three out of 33 hostages that are

01:37slated to be released in the first phase.

01:40So the first 42 days of this ceasefire agreement, three of those, the first three were supposed

01:45to be released today, and those names were already supposed to be in Israeli hands.

01:50This is important, not just for their families, but because Israel will release a specific

01:57number of prisoners in connection to those Israelis released.

02:02In other words, if these are Israeli civilians released, Israel is expected to release 30

02:07Palestinian prisoners for each civilian.

02:10If these are young soldiers, if these are military people, Israel is expected to release

02:1550 for every Israeli release.

02:17So right now, everything is suspended, at least until we understand what's going on

02:22on Hamas's side.

02:24There is generally a sense that if it does come into effect eventually, this ceasefire

02:30is expected to be a more permanent one than we saw in November in 2023.

02:39That's right.

02:40That is exactly what President Joe Biden announced unequivocally when he made a speech presenting

02:47this ceasefire arrangement to the world just three days ago.

02:51But it's a three-phase deal, and the permanent ceasefire and a declaration of the end of

02:57the war is only expected to come in at the start of phase two, and we first have to embark

03:04on phase one, and that's a six-week phase.

03:06So I think it may be a bit early to contemplate a complete end to the war, although I have

03:12to say that there is a deep, deep thirst for that on both sides of this border.

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