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The truce between Israel and Hamas that was scheduled to take effect Sunday morning was postponed after Hamas failed to provide the names of hostages who would be released later in the day for what it said were “technical reasons.”

The six-week truce – the first phase of a multi-stage agreement that would halt the war in Gaza and pave the way for the release of hostages still being held in the Strip by the armed Palestinian movement – was scheduled to take effect at 8.30am. AM local time (06.30 GMT).

But in an indication of the fragility of the arrangements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly before the ceasefire took effect that it would not begin until Hamas provided Israel with a list of the names of the three hostages who would be released on Sunday.

In a brief statement minutes later, Hamas said that the delay in submitting names was due to “field technical reasons” without providing details, but insisted that it was still committed to the agreement.

As the ceasefire deadline passed, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Israel would continue to strike Gaza until Hamas provided names. Shortly thereafter, the army said it struck targets in northern and central Gaza. Palestinian media reported that three people were killed in an air strike on Gaza City.

If the truce goes ahead as originally planned, Hamas will later on Sunday release three of the 98 hostages it still holds in Gaza. In return, Israel will release 90 Palestinian prisoners.

The multi-stage agreement offers hope for a halt — and perhaps an end — to the bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has left Gaza in ruins, consumed Israeli society, and put the Middle East on the brink. Total war.

The fighting was sparked by Hamas’s shock attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took another 250 hostage in the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded with a devastating attack on Gaza, killing more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing most of the coastal enclave’s 2.3 million residents and fueling a humanitarian catastrophe.

After more than half a year of failed attempts to broker a ceasefire, mediators announced last week that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a three-phase agreement, which US President Joe Biden first proposed in May last year.

The first phase includes a six-week truce, during which Hamas will release a total of 33 hostages – including children, women, the sick and the elderly – in exchange for approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

During the first phase of the deal, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes, including in northern Gaza. There will also be a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a massive influx of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

If the deal goes through as planned, by the 16th day of the first phase, Israel and Hamas will begin negotiating the details of the second phase of the deal, during which the remaining living hostages will be released in exchange for hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners, the entire deal. Withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent cessation of war.

The final stage will include the return of the bodies of the hostages who were killed, as well as the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

However, there are doubts about whether the deal will be fully implemented, with Netanyahu under intense pressure from far-right members of his coalition to resume the war at the end of the first phase of the deal.

On Saturday evening, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that his Jewish Power party would leave the government in protest against the agreement, reducing Netanyahu’s majority in the 120-seat Israeli parliament to only two seats.

Ben Gvir’s ultra-nationalist ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionist Party from the government if the war did not resume after the first phase of the agreement. If he does so, Netanyahu will be deprived of his parliamentary majority.