Hamas' military wing released a list of hostages for release on Jan. 30
The Palestinian radical movement Hamas will release Israeli hostages Arbel Yehud, Gadi Moses and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) employee Agam Berger on Thursday, January 30. Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas), said on January 29.
"As part of the prisoner exchange deal <...> the Al-Qassam Brigades decided to release the following <Israeli> prisoners tomorrow, Thursday, 30.01.2025:1) Arbel Yehud, 2) Agam Berger, 3) Gadi Moshe Moses," Ubaida wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to The Times of Israel, Yehud is 29 years old, IDF soldier Berger is 19, and Moses is 80. Hamas handed the release list to Israel through intermediaries Qatar and Egypt. In addition to the three hostages, the Palestinian movement, Israeli officials confirmed to the publication, is set to release on Thursday five of the eight hostages, who are Thai nationals. In the meantime, two Thais kidnapped by Hamas have died.
Earlier in the day, Al Arabiya TV channel quoted sources as saying that Hamas may refuse to release the hostages if Israel continues to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Sergey Balmasov, an expert at the Middle East Institute and an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, commenting on this in a conversation with Izvestia, expressed the opinion that the Palestinian movement may delay the release of the hostages. After the abductees are returned to Israel, the IDF may start attacking Gaza even more, and the movement hopes to delay the moment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Jan. 26 that it would not allow Gazans to enter the northern part of the Strip until the Palestinian movement frees Yehud. In response, Hamas confirmed that it would release the civilian hostage before February 1, for which another exchange of kidnapped Israelis and prisoners is scheduled.
Prior to that, on January 19, the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. During this phase of the deal, which will last 42 days, 33 Israeli hostages and some 1,900 Palestinians are to be released. On the same day, the movement released three hostages in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, and on January 26, four military girls were handed over to the Red Cross.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.
