We need an uprising’, says Danny Elgarat, ex-police chief who claims glacial progress of releases shows they are not a priority

The militant group Hamas says it will free three Israeli hostages as planned this weekend. That's a reversal of its previous announcement and it raises the prospect of resolving a major dispute over the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel threatened Tuesday to resume hostilities with Hamas in Gaza unless the militant group releases hostages under the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas says it will release the next group of three Israeli hostages as planned. That would pave the way toward resolving a major dispute over the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas named three more Israeli hostages it will release in a weekend trade for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the latest sign that the shaky Gaza ceasefire deal appears to be holding in spite of a

Nearly all the 73 remaining hostages are men, including Israeli soldiers, and about half are believed to be dead. The two sides have carried out five swaps since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, freeing 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners so far during the first phase of the truce.

Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov are expected to return from Gaza on Saturday after Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped avert a standoff that threatened to sink a fragile ceasefire that has halted fighting for almost a month.