Update: The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been delayed, as Hamas failed to provide a list of the hostages to be released, as stipulated in the deal.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was officially set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time on Saturday morning (1:30 am ET). In addition, three of the 33 hostages set to be released in the “first phase” of the hostage deal were set to be released later on Sunday.
All three of the hostages who were expected to be released are presumed to be female, though Hamas failed to give Israel a confirmed list of those who are to be freed — a breach of the agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to cancel the deal if Hamas did not comply with its terms.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA) issued a statement at 9:12 a.m. local time:
This morning, we all expect the implementation of the agreement to return the hostages. As of this morning, Hamas has not fulfilled its obligation, and contrary to the agreement, has not provided the State of Israel with the names of the returning female hostages. The ceasefire will not come into effect so long as Hamas does not fulfill its obligations. At the direction of the Prime Minister, the IDF will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip area as long as Hamas does not fulfill its obligations, with all that this entails.
Following that statement, the IDF said at 9:39 a.m. local time that it had begun attacking targets in Gaza.
Under the deal, which may still take effect eventually, Israel would pull back from some positions in the Gaza Strip, though Netanyahu has said that Israel will not give up control of the strategic Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
In a national address on Saturday evening, Netanyahu told the Israeli people: “We promised in the agreement that Israel would keep full control in the Philadelphi Corridor and the security buffer around the entire Gaza Strip. We will not allow war materiel to be smuggled in, nor will we allow our hostages to be smuggled out.”
Israel also agreed to release over 1,900 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons over the course of the six-week deal.
Update: Hamas claimed later on Sunday morning that it had provided Israel a list of three female hostages to be released. Their names were not yet provided to the public.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
This article has been updated to reflect the failure, or delay, of the ceasefire.
