A four-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas will begin on Friday morning with civilian captives set to be released from the Gaza Strip later in the day, a spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the four-day truce will begin at 7am (05:00 GMT) and 13 captives held by Hamas will be released at 4pm (14:00 GMT) with increased humanitarian aid entering Gaza “as soon as possible”.
“Those hostages who are from the same families will be put together within the same batch,” he said.
“Every day will include a number of civilians as agreed to total 50 within the four days.”
Palestinians would be released from Israeli prisons as part of the deal, which also includes a cessation of hostilities across Gaza, he said.
Israel and Hamas, which have been at war since October 7, announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 captives in Gaza and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed during the truce.
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Israel-Hamas truce to start at 7am on Friday – Qatari foreign ministry
The initial 13 captives scheduled to be released by Hamas are women and children, and al-Ansari said that while he could not disclose the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released on Friday, he said the deal was “reciprocal, so we’re expecting a release to happen also on the Israeli side”.
Source: Aljazeera.com
