Middle East Crisis Negotiations

Netanyahu: No ceasefire without list of hostages

Israel will not implement the ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas provides a list of the names of the 33 people among the hostages to be released, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the day after the Israeli government approved the ceasefire, Reuters reports.

“Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. That responsibility lies with Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

In the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 Israeli hostages will be released in exchange for 737 Palestinian prisoners. If the first phase of the agreement proceeds as planned, it will move on to phase two. Then Hamas will release all hostages that are still alive and Israel will begin a complete withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.

On Saturday, Netanyahu said that the ceasefire is temporary and that Israel will resume fighting if it deems it necessary.

Gaza residents prepare for return trip: “I will kiss the ground in my city”

Aid agencies in Gaza are bracing for chaos as hundreds of thousands of people return home in connection with the promised ceasefire that comes into effect on Sunday morning, writes The Guardian.

Muhammad Alyan, 57, is eager to get to northern Gaza as soon as possible to try to dig out his dead wife and daughter from the rubble of their family home. It has been 40 days since he lost them in an Israeli attack.

“This is a very difficult and unbearable feeling,” he says.

Around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced during the war, and many of them are expected to try to travel from southern to northern Gaza in the coming days. Muhammad al-Hebbil, 37, also hopes to begin the journey towards the city of Beit Lahia as soon as the ceasefire comes into effect.

"I will kiss the ground of my beloved city and what is left of our houses, and inspect our homes, our belongings. Maybe I can find something that reminds me of our past lives," he says.