Israel's Supreme Court rejects plea challenging hostage deal

The Supreme Court of Israel has rejected a legal challenge to the Gaza hostage deal that involves the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners and 50 Israeli hostages on the grounds that the deal “is a clear political issue to which this court does not consider its involvement as necessary.” The Almagor Terror Victims Association, an organisation created in 1986 to represent terror victims, had asked the apex court to “annul the government’s decision … [and] order [the government] to discuss again the terms of the deal with Hamas.” The association had claimed that the hostage deal agreed upon by Israel and Hamas would intensify the risk of “the recurrence of serious acts of terrorism to which all the citizens and residents of the country are exposed.” It has also demanded to see the list of prisoners Israel plans to release as part of the deal. Meanwhile, the Israel National Security Council has announced that hostages would not be released before Friday. Initially, the first batch of hostages were to be freed on Thursday.

The starting time of the truce and release of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has yet to be officially announced. An Egyptian security source said mediators had sought a start time of 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday.

Speaking on Thursday morning, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari said an announcement on the beginning of the truce could come in the next few hours. Qatar has been mediating in the negotiations on the truce.

With inputs from Reuters