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Qatar says four-day Gaza truce to start on Friday morning

Thursday, 23 November 2023 6:21 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 November 2023 7:26 PM ]

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza. (File photo by Reuters)

Qatar says a four-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas will start at 7 a.m. local time on Friday.

“The pause will begin at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday... and the first batch of civilian hostages will be handed over at approximately 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on the same day,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on Thursday.

At least 39 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released on Friday. The release is expected about 8 p.m. (18:00 GMT) and will only happen once the captives currently held in Gaza are in the Israeli occupied territory.

“Obviously every day will include a number of civilians as agreed to total 50 within the four days,” Ansari said.

Palestinian prisoners will be released from Megiddo, Damon and Ofer prisons. Then from Ofer prison, they will be taken on Red Cross transports to the Beitonia checkpoint to the occupied West Bank. Prisoners from occupied East al-Quds will be taken there.

For every Israeli captive released, there will be three Palestinian prisoners released, namely women and children.

Hamas has confirmed that the truce with Israel will come into effect at 05:00 GMT on Friday.

Two-hundred aid trucks that include medical supplies for the entire Gaza Strip will be allowed in every day.

Gaza truce no more than 'respite' in immense suffering: Oxfam

Oxfam says four-day truce in the Israeli war on Gaza is disproportionately inadequate for the suffering that the military campaign has been causing.

Israel keeps killing Palestinians in Gaza despite the truce agreement. At least 23 Palestinians were killed and many more wounded in the latest strikes in central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. Also in northern Gaza, the Israeli ground invasion continued.

The Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza has also been fully evacuated after the Israeli military issued a four-hour evacuation notice.

On November 21, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to resume the war as soon as the truce ends. He said that during the ceasefire, intelligence efforts will be maintained, allowing the military to prepare for the next stages of battle.

Israel has killed more than 14,800 people, including over 6,150 children, in Gaza since October 7.

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