The women were taken in Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Israel-Gaza war and have had no contact with the outside world since
In the hours after the release of the names of the female hostages to be freed on Saturday, the office of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to indicate it believed Hamas had breached the fragile ceasefire deal because the names did not include that of the remaining female civilian hostage in Gaza.
Israeli media later reported the Israeli prime minister had consulted his security chiefs and decided to move forward, believing Hamas’s decision to release female soldiers before female civilians to be a violation of the ceasefire agreement but not one serious enough to end the process entirely.
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