Gaza ceasefire latest: Israel says ceasefire delayed until Hamas provides names of first hostages to be freed

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

With less than half an hour to go before the ceasefire is due to begin, Israel is still waiting for the names of the three hostages expected to be released today, according to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the ceasefire agreement, the names should be provided at least 24 hours before the planned exchange, which is supposed to happen sometime after 16:00 local time today.

The statement said that Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military not to continue with ceasefire preparations until the list of names had been received.

As of late last night, the location of the hostage exchange was also unclear, with the Israeli military preparing three separate possible locations near the border with southern, central, and northern Gaza.

Hamas has said the delay was for “technical reasons”.

So it remains unclear how this failure on their part will affect the start of the ceasefire, which was due to have come into force at 06:30 GMT