Hamas now says plans to meet Saturday deadline to release Israeli hostages

Hamas announced Thursday that it will meet its Saturday deadline to release Israeli hostages, after saying in recent days the move might be postponed because Israel has violated their ceasefire agreement that includes scheduled hostage releases.

Hamas thanked Qatar and Egypt for being mediators in the talks. An Egyptian official confirmed the release with NPR News.

Israel has been at war with Palestinian-back Hamas in Gaza since the militant group launched a terror attack on Israel in October 2023. The ceasefire deal went into effect Jan. 19 and requires Hamas and Israel to release prisoners.

Hamas has so far released 21 hostages in a series of five exchanges for over 730 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if the hostages were not released by Saturday, Israel would resume fighting in Gaza.