truce and release of hostages will begin on Friday, Qatar announces

The date of the start of the break in fighting is known. The truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas will come into force on Friday morning and the first hostages will be released in the afternoon, Qatar announced Thursday, November 23.

“The humanitarian break will begin at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. Paris time) on Friday (…) and the first group of civilian hostages will be released around 4 p.m. (3 p.m. Paris time) the same day,” said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari.

“Complete cessation of military activities”

According to him, 13 women and children detained by the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, members of the same families, will be released while a still unknown number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel will be released at the same time.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, immediately confirmed that the truce would begin Friday morning for four days with a “complete cessation of military activities”while Israel indicated that it had received a “first list of names” hostages. “Officials are checking the details of the list and are in contact with all families,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, without specifying whether he was talking about all the hostages or those affected by the deal.

Qatar, a key mediator with Egypt and the United States, obtained an agreement on Wednesday on a renewable four-day truce, coupled with an exchange of 50 hostages held in Gaza for 150 Palestinians held in three Israeli prisons. “A certain number of civilians will be released each day to reach a total of 50 at the end of the four days as planned”, said Majed Al-Ansari during a press conference. The agreement “provides for a total cessation of hostilities for four days” he said, hoping that there will be no violation.