Emily Damari, a 28-year-old British-Israeli lady, is one of the first three hostages Hamas intends to release today as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. According to her mother, she was kidnapped from her home during the 7 October Hamas onslaught on Israel and “shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, blindfolded, bundled into the back of her own car, and driven back to Gaza

The other two hostages are Romi Gonen, 24, who was abducted during a music event, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, who was kidnapped at her house in Kfar Aza. On Sunday, Hamas announced that it has handed over the identities of the three female hostages to ceasefire negotiators.

The long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a powerful military assault for the past 15 months, was delayed by several hours before it finally took effect at 11.15am local time.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the truce, which was scheduled to begin at 8.30 a.m., would not begin until Israel got the names. After receiving the list, his office issued a statement confirming that the truce had begun and that Israeli security personnel were reviewing the “details” and contacting the relatives of the prisoners who would be freed after 4 p.m. It further stated that four more living female hostages would be released in seven days. The ceasefire deadline was missed when Hamas failed to issue the list of hostages scheduled for release today. The group cited “technical field reasons” for the delay, while Israel continued to fire military strikes into Gaza.

According to Sky’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall, these technological concerns could be tied to Hamas’ difficulty in communicating with its leadership in Gaza. It has long avoided using cell phones to avoid discovery by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said it bombed “terror targets” in northern and central Gaza on Sunday morning, as the dispute with Hamas over the list’s delivery persisted. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service reported that the military attacks killed at least 13 Palestinians and injured scores more. Medics reported tanks firing in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, as well as an airstrike and tank fire in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, forcing inhabitants who had returned in anticipation of the truce to escape.

Bunkall stated, “Many in Israel would understandably blame Hamas for playing games and endangering the lives of the hostages and the Gazan people. “The mediating teams knew the ceasefire would be shaky, they knew that there would be bumps in the road and have encouraged both Israel and Hamas to remain calm as any difficulties are worked through.” As the tenuous ceasefire began, Israeli forces began to withdraw from several areas of Gaza, allowing many displaced Palestinians to return home.

The agreement was reached by Israel’s cabinet on Friday night, following a breakthrough in negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt announced on Wednesday. The first stage will take six weeks, during which 33 of the remaining 98 hostages – women, children, men over 50, the sick, and injured – will be released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian inmates and detainees. They include 737 male, female, and teenage inmates, some of them are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that killed scores of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained since the beginning of the war.

The war began after Hamas militants rampaged into Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted another 250 on 7 October 2023. Around half of the hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire in November that year.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages are still being held captive inside Gaza, with the military believing at least a third of those are dead.

Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half the dead.

Israel has said it will not agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’s military and political capabilities are eliminated, ensuring it can no longer rule.