Hamas to release three hostages Sunday as ceasefire comes into effect

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00:00The expectation is, and we can't be absolutely certain at this stage, because very much depends

00:04on who is released from the Palestinian side, what hostages will be released.

00:09But at this stage, we know that the ceasefire will come into place at 8.30 local time, that

00:15later on in the afternoon, not before 4 o'clock, there could be the release of first Palestinian

00:22prisoners and then three hostages, but we don't yet know who the hostages are going

00:27to be.

00:28The Israelis have released the names of 95 Palestinian prisoners who could be released.

00:34That's a maximum number.

00:36The expectation was that the Palestinians, that Hamas would release, would have already

00:41released the names of three, of the three Israeli hostages are going to be released

00:45tomorrow, but they haven't done so yet.

00:47So there's a degree of uncertainty about exactly what will happen tomorrow and what numbers

00:53will be involved tomorrow.

00:54But at this stage, at least, it seems pretty clear that everything's going to go ahead

00:59as planned.

01:00Now, beyond the releases that you mentioned that are set to happen on Sunday, Rob, the

01:04next two stages of the deal after that are pretty ambiguous for now.

01:09What is supposed to happen throughout the other phases of the ceasefire agreement?

01:15Yeah, it's certainly complicated.

01:19Tomorrow we've been saying three hostages to be released in return for a number of Palestinian

01:25prisoners, in turn based on a system of ratios, depending on the category of hostage being

01:30released.

01:31After that, at the end of the first week, after seven days, four hostages should be

01:35released.

01:36After that, another three and so on and so on, until you get to the day 42, when 14 hostages

01:42will be released.

01:43And that will bring up the total of 33.

01:45Whilst all that is going on, other things are happening as well.

01:49The aid supply into Gaza should have accelerated to the point where 600 trucks should be going

01:54in every day.

01:57The big problem with that, though, is that the logistics inside Gaza are a total mess,

02:02and nobody is certain about how precisely the distribution of aid is going to take place.

02:08In addition, Israeli troops will be moving into position to leave Gaza, not in total

02:14at this first phase, but certainly some of them will be leaving.

02:19Until the 42nd day, the Philadelphia Corridor, where the Israelis have been for several months

02:24now, will remain in Israeli control.

02:27After the 42nd day, it's expected that between day 42 and 50, the Israeli defence forces

02:34will move out of the Philadelphia Corridor, which is the line that runs between Gaza and

02:39the Egyptian border.

02:43Between now and then, an awful lot of things can go wrong.

02:46On the 16th day of the first phase, negotiations begin in earnest about what happens in the

02:53second phase.

02:55This is absolutely critical to the ultimate goal of ending the war.

03:00An awful lot of things can go wrong.

03:03There are many on the Israeli side who are not sure about whether it's even right for

03:09Israel to be conceding the possibility of a deal until Hamas has been completely destroyed.

03:14If that is the position of the Israeli government, getting any sort of agreement is going to

03:19be very, very difficult.

03:20But the international pressure is certainly mounting on Israel to move forward on the

03:25second phase.

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