Hamas announces four more hostages will be released next Saturday

After Hamas released on Sunday the three Israeli hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbacher, the Palestinian terror group announced it will release four more female hostages next Saturday.

Earlier, Hamas claimed that it would release the hostages on Sunday and a day earlier hand over the list with their identities, a move that Israel objected to on the grounds that it violated the agreement, according to which the release of the hostages must take place on Saturday.

It should be noted that the Palestinian terrorist group violated the agreement last Sunday by handing over the list of the hostages it was set to release with a delay by almost a day.

In exchange for the release of the three Israelis, the Jewish state released 90 Palestinian terrorists who were imprisoned in Israel.

In addition to the release of the three hostages, Israel recovered, in a special operation by its forces before the ceasefire went into effect last Sunday, the body of soldier Oron Shaul. Shaul fell in combat during a counter-terrorism operation in the Gaza Strip in 2014 and had been held in the Palestinian coastal enclave ever since.

It is estimated that another 30 hostages will be released within a month to complete the first phase of the agreement.

The next phases of the ceasefire agreement

As stipulated, after 16 days from the agreement coming into force, negotiations will begin on the second phase, during which Hamas will release the remaining live hostages, a permanent ceasefire will come into effect and the full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza will take place.

In the third phase, according to the agreement, the bodies of all the dead hostages will be handed over and the reconstruction of Gaza will begin under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.