Israelis woke up Thursday expecting to see the first of fifty hostages released by Hamas under an agreement approved earlier this week. Instead, they learned the hostage release would not take place at 10 a.m. as promised, and might not happen before Friday.
National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi issued a statement around midnight, Wednesday into Thursday:
The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly.
The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday.
It was not immediately clear what the problem was.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that Hamas itself had not yet approved the deal, which was negotiated by Qatar and the United States as intermediaries.
The Biden administration said that the delay will be small and that the agreement will still be implimented.
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