Female soldiers Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy are set to be freed on Saturday in the second phase of the cease-fire and hostage release deal.
They are to be freed after 476 days in Hamas captivity. The four female IDF lookouts were kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military post during the October 7 terror attack.
Hamas sent the list of hostages to be released around 4:00 p.m., but it differed from the one Israel expected, with Arbel Yehud not included, despite the fact that civilians were supposed to be released before the female soldiers.
Hours later, an Israeli official announced that Israel had decided to accept the list to avoid derailing the agreement. However, Israel made it clear to the mediators that this constituted a violation of the agreement, which was unacceptable.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Israel is preparing for the possibility of an earlier release than the originally scheduled 4:00 p.m. time, possibly as early as the morning or between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. The message from Qatar to the Israeli negotiating team indicated that Hamas faced a technical difficulty in reaching Arbel Yehud, who was supposed to be released on Saturday but was not on the list.
According to a Gaza-based source close to Hamas, Yehud is held by a Salafi group. In light of this, Israel decided not to break off the deal and to agree to this phase, despite concerns that Hamas might not be telling the full truth. "We learned from the previous deal not to break the agreement, especially since the violation wasn't major," the source said.
Despite accepting Hamas's list, Israel remains concerned that the list may change as part of Hamas's psychological warfare tactics. Families of the female soldiers on the list have been informed of this possibility, and updates have also been provided to the families of IDF lookout Agam Berger and Arbel Yehud.