Torment and anxiety for families as hostage deal approaches

What was most striking about the Qatari announcement was the lack of information about the Palestinians who are going to be released as part of this exchange.

The Qataris didn’t have much to say about their Arab brothers and sisters who will be released. All the focus was on Israeli hostages.

If all goes to plan 4pm local time (2pm UK time) tomorrow, 13 Israelis will be released by Hamas.

The group seized them on 7 October as it slaughtered 1,200 people and has held them hostage in Gaza since – against all the rules of war.

They will be women and children. We know that much.

Israel-Gaza latest: How truce tomorrow will work

The Qataris say the priority is getting families out, meaning mothers and children. Their relatives are being told this evening.

It will be an agonising wait for the phone to ring. It is impossible to imagine the mental torture they have been living through on a daily basis.

Their relatives have been taken by thugs who’ve burned down homes, murdered the elderly and very young, and raped festival-goers.

The exchange arrangement has been planned to operate day by day. That is a further layer of torment for the families.

Every morning another list of names, every day an anxious wait to see if the ceasefire remains in place.

Every report of a shelling or explosion is a cause for worry.

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What is still unclear is how the exchange works. We know the time the Israelis will be released. But soon after that the Palestinians? That is unclear.

The Qataris could not say that, or exactly how many Palestinian prisoners the Israelis will release from their jails.

Will they need to wait for Israel to identify each hostage and make sure they’re fit and well?

A list of 300 Palestinians – candidates for the exchange – has been released by Israel. Most are teenage boys, just 10% women. Sky News has taken a close look at the names.

There is a huge controversy in Israel over the list. They are regarded as terrorists with blood on their hands.

Families of some of their victims have expressed their outrage in interviews and have reportedly been urged to desist by Israeli authorities.

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Palestinians will see the released prisoners as heroes.

Some of them have attacked soldiers and police officers – instruments of Israel’s 57-year occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem – in the past.

Palestinians also regard attacks on Israeli settlers living in those areas in the same vein.

There are reports the IDF has visited the homes of Palestinians who may be released to warn against celebrations.

Previous homecomings have seen huge crowds, fireworks and guns being fired into the air.

Israeli authorities in the West Bank will be keen to avoid that at such a febrile time.

There are many moving parts to this truce – each one of them grounds for argument and disagreement.

But there are also powerful parties overseeing the process – the Egyptians, the Americans, the Qataris.

The hope is their involvement will overcome any difference and between them they can steer this truce for as long as possible, releasing as many hostages as they can.

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