DOHA, QATAR – A four-day pause in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza will start on Friday morning and an exchange of hostages and prisoners will follow hours later, mediator Qatar said.
The ceasefire agreement facilitated by Qatar with help from Egypt and the United States had been due to take effect on Thursday but was delayed after a last-minute hitch.
“The pause will begin at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on Friday… and the first batch of civilian hostages will be handed over at approximately 4:00 pm (1400 GMT),” Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said Thursday.
Thirteen people would be freed initially, all women and children from the same families, Ansari told a news conference in Doha.
Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would also be released on Friday, he said, adding a list of inmate names had been approved, without saying how many.
Ansari said “the skies will be clear” of drones for a period of time to “allow for the hostage release to happen in a safe environment”.
Israel and Hamas, which have been at war since October 7, had announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed during the ceasefire.
“Obviously every day will include a number of civilians as agreed to total 50 within the four days,” the Qatari spokesperson said.
“During these four days, information will be collected about the rest of the hostages to consider the possibility of more releases and thus extending the pause,” he added.
Commenting on the pause, Ansari said it entailed “a complete ceasefire… with no attacks from the air or the ground,” adding that he hoped “there will be no violations”.
LIST OF NAMES
The ceasefire deal is to take effect in stages that can be extended and broadened. It is also intended to provide aid to Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
“The agreement, it still… stands and as was agreed upon,” Ansari said.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, on Thursday confirmed that a truce would begin on Friday, accompanied by the “cessation of all military actions from the Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance” during the truce.
During the ceasefire, it said 50 hostages – women and males aged 18 or under – would be freed, with three Palestinian prisoners to be released for each of them.
Hamas official Bassem Naim said “marathon negotiations” were behind the agreement, which “represents an important step towards alleviating the suffering of our people”.
The release of Palestinian woman and children held in Israeli jails would start with those who have been detained the longest, Naim said.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said Thursday authorities were in contact with the families of all the hostages being held in Gaza after receiving “a first list of names”.
It did not immediately specify who was on the list.
The agreement follows weeks of war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas militants broke through the militarised Gaza border with Israel on 7 October in an unprecedented attack.
Israeli officials say about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 240 taken hostage.
Relentless Israeli bombardments and a ground invasion since then have killed more than 14,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.