By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – A cease-fire in Gaza that was imposed on Sunday morning was delayed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Hamas to provide a list of those captured during the day and Hamas said it would not do so for “technical” reasons.

Israel’s military spokesman said in a statement issued at 0630 GMT, when the ceasefire was supposed to happen, that Hamas was not meeting its demands and that Israel would continue to attack as long as Hamas did not meet its demands.

The long-awaited ceasefire will pave the way for an end to the 15-month conflict that has gripped the Middle East.

Netanyahu announced an hour before the ceasefire that it would not start until Hamas handed over a list of the first three hostages to be released on Sunday.

“The Prime Minister told the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) that the cease-fire, which is supposed to start at 8:30 am, will not start until Israel has the list of released people that Hamas promised to deliver,” his office. he said on Sunday.

Hamas has confirmed its commitment to the Gaza ceasefire agreement and said the delay in revealing the names of the hostages for release in the first phase was due to “technical reasons”, without explanation.

Israeli forces began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip in Rafah to Philadelphia on the Egyptian-Gaza border, pro-Hamas media reported on Sunday.

Explosions were heard in Gaza until the last moment. At 0630 GMT (8:30 am local time), Gazans cheered and gunfire could be heard ringing out in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli army has warned Gaza residents not to approach its forces or move around the Palestinian territory before the end of the ceasefire, adding that if the movement is allowed “comments and instructions will be given on safe routes”.

The tripartite ceasefire agreement followed months of negotiations led by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and came before the Jan. 20 inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Its first phase will last six weeks, during which 33 of the remaining 98 – women, children, men over 50, sick and wounded – will be released in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

They include 737 men, women and youth prisoners, some of whom are members of the terrorist groups that killed many Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who have been imprisoned since the beginning of the war.

The three kidnapped women are expected to be released on Sunday afternoon through the Red Cross, in exchange for 30 prisoners each.

Following the release of the hostages on Sunday, US director-general Brett McGurk said the coalition is calling for the release of four more abducted women within seven days, followed by the release of three more abductees every seven days.

In the first phase, the Israeli army will withdraw from its positions in Gaza and the Palestinians who have left the northern areas of Gaza will be allowed to return.

US President Joe Biden’s team worked closely with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push the deal.

As his inauguration neared, Trump reiterated his demand for a swift deal, warning repeatedly that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released.

POST-WAR GAZA?

But what will happen to Gaza remains unclear if there is no comprehensive agreement on the future of the post-war conflict, which will require billions of dollars and years of reconstruction work.

And while the goal of stopping this war is to end the war, it can easily end.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has survived despite losing its top leadership and thousands of fighters.

Israel has vowed not to allow Hamas to return to power and has cleared large areas inside Gaza, in a move seen as a way to create a buffer zone that would allow its forces to take action against threats in the region.

In Israel, the return of the hostages could ease public anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government over the Oct. 7 which made it the deadliest day in the country’s history.

But stalwarts in his government have already threatened to quit if the war against Hamas does not resume, leaving him squeezed between Washington’s desire to see an end to the war, and his right-wing political allies.

If the war resumes, many of the captives may remain in Gaza.

CONTENTS FOLLOWING SUBJECTS

Outside of Gaza, the conflict has shaken the entire region, sparking a war with the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group and bringing Israel into direct conflict with its arch-enemy Iran for the first time.

A year later, the Middle East has been transformed. Iran, which has spent billions building a terrorist network around Israel, has seen its “Axis of Resistance” crumble and has been unable to inflict significant damage on Israel in two major missile attacks.

Hezbollah, whose massive missile arsenal was seen as a major threat to Israel, was decimated, its top leadership killed and most of its weapons and ammunition destroyed.

Eventually, Assad’s decades-long regime in Syria was toppled, removing Iran’s other key ally and leaving Israel’s military unopposed in the region.

Politically, Israel has faced anger and isolation over the death and destruction in Gaza.

Netanyahu is facing an arrest warrant at the International Criminal Court for war crimes and charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Israel was furious at both cases, dismissing the charges as politically motivated and blaming South Africa, which brought the original ICJ case, as well as host countries, as anti-Semitic.

The war was started by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, an attack in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were captured, according to Israeli statistics. More than 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war in Gaza since then.

Israel’s 15-month campaign in Gaza has reduced a large part of the coastal area and killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations Human Rights Office said the death toll confirmed so far shows that most of them are women and children.

Israel says more than a third of the dead in Gaza are fighters.