From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Report says living hostages will be first to released in deal’s first phase
Detailing unconfirmed elements of the deal, Channel 12 reports that of the 33 hostages to be freed in the first, 42-day phase of the deal, those to be released will be female civilians, then female soldiers, then men who are over 50, and men who are infirm.
It adds that those among the 33 who are alive will be freed first, and says this was a demand that Israel insisted upon. Israel is to believe that most of the 33 are alive.
Channel 12 notes that the list of the 33 hostages to be freed comprises four female civilians, five female soldiers, as well as Shiri Bibas and her two small sons Ariel and baby Kfir, 10 men aged 50 and over, and 11 infirm men. The report says Hamas is to provide a list of the hostages and their status by the seventh day of the deal.
It adds that Ethiopian-born Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayad, held since 2014 and 2015 respectively, are among the living hostages set to be freed in this phase.
The first three hostages are set to be released on the first day of the deal’s implementation, with four more to go free on the seventh day. After that, three hostages are to be released every seven days, with the final 14 to be released in the final week of the phase.
The TV report adds that well over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners will be freed in return for the 33 hostages, and says that, according to unconfirmed Arab sources, these will include at least 250 terrorists serving life terms and another 400 serving terms up to 20 years.
Some of those to be freed will be prisoners captured in Gaza after October 7, 2023, but nobody who took part in the invasion and slaughter will be freed, it says. All women and children aged under 19, arrested from October 8, 2023, in Gaza will be among the prisoners released.
The TV report says 47 rearrested prisoners from the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal will be freed. It also says released prisoners will not be required to sign a declaration pledging not to return to terrorism.
The report says that Gazans displaced from northern Gaza — an estimated million people — will be able to return under the terms of an agreed mechanism until the 22nd day of the deal.
It quotes an unconfirmed Egyptian report saying the IDF will withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor on the final day of phase one — a claim denied by Israeli officials — and says the IDF will gradually withdraw from Gaza’s cities and major population centers.
Humanitarian aid into the strip will be boosted considerably, it adds.
The TV report says negotiations on the deal’s second phase will begin on the 16th day of the first phase. It says all living hostages will be freed in return for a permanent ceasefire.
The report says that the security cabinet and then the full cabinet are set to vote — and expected to approve — the deal tomorrow morning, provided the final deal is signed by then. After that, lists of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed will be published, to enable petitions against their release to the High Court. The court is widely expected not to intervene in the deal.
