how will the truce and the release of the hostages take place for four days?

The cessation of fighting began at 6 a.m. Friday in the Gaza Strip, allowing humanitarian convoys to enter the enclave. The first hostages held by Hamas were released Friday afternoon.

A temporary respite after almost seven weeks of fighting. The four-day truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into effect at 6 a.m. Friday, November 24, two days after an agreement for this truce was announced. “lull” in the conflict, in exchange for the release of at least 50 hostages held by Hamas since the attacks of October 7.

The first hostages were released Friday afternoon, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. If this truce marks a first break of several days since the start of hostilities between the Islamist movement and the Jewish state, it could nevertheless prove precarious. About 15 minutes after it came into force, anti-rocket alarm sirens sounded in several Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army announced, without giving further details. Franceinfo details how these four days should unfold, which could mark a turning point in this war.

A “complete cessation of military activities” was announced

Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, confirmed “a complete cessation of military activities” starting Friday morning. Israeli authorities have clarified that this pause could be extended if more hostages are released: for any group of 10 additional hostages released, Israel will offer a new day of truce.

In principle, Israeli air and ground forces must therefore temporarily cease their operations, and Hamas undertakes not to fire rockets towards Israel. According to the American news agency Associated Press (AP), the Palestinian Islamist movement declared that Israeli planes would no longer fly for four days over the southern Gaza Strip. To the north of the enclave, the epicenter of the fighting, IDF planes will no longer fly over the area for six hours every day until Monday. Israel, however, did not provide details on the cessation of these flights, adds AP.

For civilians who have fled the northern Gaza Strip in recent weeks, however, it will be impossible to return home during this break. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Palestinians nevertheless tried to reach the north of the Palestinian enclave on Friday morning, from the first hours of the truce. Further south of the territory, many displaced people left hospitals or schools where they had taken refuge on Friday.

The first hostage releases took place on Friday afternoon

Thirteen Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released around 5 p.m. (4 p.m. Paris time), the Red Cross announced. They were taken to Rafah, the southernmost point of the Palestinian enclave, on the border with Egypt. They were then recovered by the Israeli domestic intelligence service, Israeli authorities confirmed.

The hostages are on Egyptian territory and are heading towards Israel, first towards a military base where the adults will be debriefed. They will then be placed in six different hospitals for medical examinations, reported Radio France correspondent Frédéric Métézeau.

The identity of the hostages is not yet known, but 12 of the 13 hostages are from the same kibbutz, that of Nir Oz, one of the most affected by the attacks of October 7, according to Thibault Lefebvre, correspondent for Radio France in Jerusalem.

At the same time, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced that 10 Thai hostages and one Filipino had been released.

On Thursday, Israeli authorities said they had “received a first list of names” hostages who would be released. Messages have been sent to all families “whose relatives appear on the list, as well as all those of people kidnapped”, said former Israeli general Gal Hirsch. During the truce, Israeli authorities must receive every day, around 4 p.m., a list of hostages who could be released, according to the IDF.

According to the spokesperson for Qatari diplomacy, “the criteria which determined the release of the hostages are based on purely humanitarian bases.” The objective, during these four days, is also to obtain other releases, and therefore an extended truce, further clarified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the emirate, which plays a key mediator role in these negotiations.

In Israel, 150 Palestinian prisoners must be released

In return for the hostage releases, Israel agreed to release up to 150 Palestinian prisoners (three prisoners for each hostage released). The Jewish state has released a list of 300 Palestinians likely to be released, including 267 young men under the age of 19, including many minors, and 33 women. “We set a condition that (…) Palestinian women and children prisoners” be released “in order of seniority” in detention, said Bassem Naïm, a senior Hamas executive.