The moment the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was to take effect
It is now 8:30am local time (06:30 GMT) in Israel and Palestine.
This is the moment that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was supposed to take effect in Gaza.
But as we’ve been reporting, the Israeli prime minister has said the ceasefire will not happen unless Hamas hands over the names of the captives it will be releasing later today.
Hamas has blamed technical reasons for the delay, but said it remains committed to the terms of the ceasefire.
Israel’s military continuing attacks on Gaza, spokesman says
Daniel Hagari, the spokesman for the Israeli military, just issued a statement on the Gaza ceasefire.
“As of this morning, Hamas is not fulfilling its obligations, and contrary to the agreement has not given Israel the names of the hostages [set for release today],” he said.
“Per the directive of the prime minister, the ceasefire will not take effect as long as Hamas is not fulfilling its obligations. The [Israeli military] is continuing to strike now in Gaza, as long as Hamas is not fulfilling its obligations to the deal.”
As we reported earlier, Hamas is yet to hand over a list of the names of the captives it is supposed to release. The Palestinian group has blamed “technical and field” reasons for the delay.
Hamas was not given time to prepare a list of captives: Expert
Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has told Al Jazeera that Hamas has succeeded in keeping the Israeli captives’ whereabouts more or less unknown.
“Hamas wants to make sure that it does not expose the whereabouts of the rest of the captives because we’re talking about a multi-phase approach to end this war. So, no one wants to burn the cards they hold. And in Hamas’s case, it’s the captives,” said Qarmout.
Given that Israel remains inside Gaza to this point and is still in control of many parts of Gaza, it makes it hard for Hamas “to confirm, reassure, or ensure that some of these captives are there and alive”, he added.
“That could be psychological warfare as well,” said Qarmout.
He said the Hamas negotiation team in Qatar had demanded that Israel hold its operation over the last two days to enable the group to gather information on the whereabouts of the captives and to prepare a list.
“And Israel did not do this,” he said.
Despite delay, people in Gaza celebrate ceasefire
Despite the delay in the ceasefire, people are still celebrating in Gaza. People here, as soon as the clock hit 8:30am, burst out into celebration and festivities. We heard shotguns a few times as well as people using fireworks.
They are hoping that the coming hours are going to show them more promises and that the list of captives has been resolved and they can go on to start piecing their lives together in a more stable and safer environment.
Up until the past few minutes, we could clearly hear the ongoing heavy artillery.
We also heard about some devastating news from northern Gaza as one particular family walked into their home, but that home was filled with explosive materials and was detonated from a distance. Many of the family members inside the home were injured. We also heard about people being shot at.
We know part of the delay has to do with lots of technicalities on the ground, the locations of the captives, and many of the difficulties the war created on the ground. One major request was to offer a period of calm before the start of the ceasefire to take hold in order for Hamas and other factions to collect the necessary information and the necessary list of names with regard to the captives.
Palestinians in Khan Younis celebrate despite delay in ceasefire
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