A senior Hamas official told AFP that his group will provide on Friday the names of four Israeli women hostages to be freed the following day in the second exchange of a ceasefire agreement.

If all goes according to plan, once Hamas releases the four hostages on Saturday, Israel should free a group of Palestinian prisoners, though neither side has specified how many they will be.

The exchange is part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war, which took effect on Sunday and saw three women hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners freed.

The fragile agreement is intended to pave the way to a permanent end to the war in Gaza, which began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

"Today, Hamas will provide the names of four hostages as part of the second prisoner exchange," said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau based in Qatar.

"Tomorrow, Saturday, the four women hostages will be released in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners, as agreed upon in the ceasefire deal."

Naim also said that Palestinians displaced by the war to southern Gaza should be able to begin returning to the north........

© International Business Times