Israel says hostage swap with Hamas won’t begin before Friday

JERUSALEM

Israel’s National Security Council said a hostage swap with the Palestinian group Hamas will not start before Friday.

“The release will start according to the original agreement between the parties and will not happen before this Friday,” Tzachi Hanegbi, the council’s president, said early Thursday in a statement.

Hanegbi said negotiations for the release of hostages have been "constantly progressing.”

Israeli media interpreted the announcement as a delay.

A report by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) said information was not provided to the families of Israeli prisoners before the announcement of a delay in the implementation of the agreement.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen previously stated on an Israeli Army Radio program that the first group of Israeli prisoners under the agreement would be released on Nov. 23.

KAN had also announced that the first group of Israeli prisoners from the Gaza Strip would be released starting at 10 a.m. (0800GMT) on Thursday.

In addition, Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas' International Relations Office, had announced that the humanitarian pause agreement with Israel would begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 23.

The Israeli government and Hamas agreed to a hostage swap early Wednesday.

Under the agreement, 50 Israelis held by Hamas will be released in exchange for 150 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

The deal also includes a four-day pause in fighting and the entry of 300 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid including fuel into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

The number of people killed in Israeli air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 Hamas offensive has risen to 14,532, including over 6,000 children and 4,000 women, the media office in the besieged enclave said Wednesday.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s air and ground attacks on Gaza.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul