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00:00It's unclear at this point.
00:02Late last night, it still appeared to be kind of a bit of a push and pull of narratives
00:07between Hamas and the Israeli government.
00:10It's important to note that while the ceasefire agreement does oblige Hamas to inform Israel
00:16ahead of time who are the hostages to be released, there's not a specific hour given.
00:23That said, now it is definitely late, and people here are still trying to figure out
00:29if Hamas is using sort of what's left of its ability to manipulate Israeli public opinion,
00:36if this is part of a game, or if in fact there's a real problem on the ground and therefore
00:41a real impediment to the launch of this very important ceasefire, something that is preventing
00:47it from being able to actually provide Israel with this list.
00:53And it's, you know, this doesn't augur well for the start of what was supposed to be a
00:58really important process today, but I think we have to wait and see if in the next hour
01:03or two they manage to rectify the situation and things get back on track.
01:07We're waiting now any second for a statement from the Israeli army spokesman in this respect.
01:13And just to take us back on that process, what is the plan meant to be?
01:22The plan was meant to be really right now, 8.30am, Israel time for the guns to cease firing.
01:30And Israel was already supposed to have a list of three out of 33 hostages that are
01:37slated to be released in the first phase.
01:40So the first 42 days of this ceasefire agreement, three of those, the first three were supposed
01:45to be released today, and those names were already supposed to be in Israeli hands.
01:50This is important, not just for their families, but because Israel will release a specific
01:57number of prisoners in connection to those Israelis released.
02:02In other words, if these are Israeli civilians released, Israel is expected to release 30
02:07Palestinian prisoners for each civilian.
02:10If these are young soldiers, if these are military people, Israel is expected to release
02:1550 for every Israeli release.
02:17So right now, everything is suspended, at least until we understand what's going on
02:22on Hamas's side.
02:24There is generally a sense that if it does come into effect eventually, this ceasefire
02:30is expected to be a more permanent one than we saw in November in 2023.
02:39That's right.
02:40That is exactly what President Joe Biden announced unequivocally when he made a speech presenting
02:47this ceasefire arrangement to the world just three days ago.
02:51But it's a three-phase deal, and the permanent ceasefire and a declaration of the end of
02:57the war is only expected to come in at the start of phase two, and we first have to embark
03:04on phase one, and that's a six-week phase.
03:06So I think it may be a bit early to contemplate a complete end to the war, although I have
03:12to say that there is a deep, deep thirst for that on both sides of this border.