Israel-Hamas war live: ceasefire due to begin in Gaza on Friday morning with first hostage release expected shortly after | Israel-Hamas war #IsraelHamas #war #live #ceasefire #due #Gaza #Friday #morning #hostage #release #expected #shortly #IsraelHamas #war

Truce expected to begin at 7am (0500 GMT), Qatar says

Jason Burke

A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin on Friday morning after negotiators worked out the final details of the deal, which will lead to the release of dozens of hostages held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Qatar, announced the ceasefire would start at 7am local time on Friday (0500 GMT).

He said the two sides had exchanged lists of those to be released, and the first group of hostages held by Hamas – 13 women and children – would be freed on Friday afternoon. Increased aid for Palestinians would start to enter “as soon as possible”, Ansari said.

The 150 Palestinian prisoners to be released are also women and children but it was not clear when they would be freed.

The diplomatic breakthrough promises the first pause in seven weeks of war in Gaza and some relief both for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the territory who have endured intensive Israeli bombardment, and for families in Israel fearful for the fate of their loved ones taken captive during the bloody attack launched last month by Hamas that triggered the conflict.

Reports in Israel suggest the hostages will be released across the Rafah border crossing into Egypt and then be brought to Israel by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (ICRC).

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Helen Livingstone.

A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is expected to take effect at 7am local time (0500 GMT) with the release of the hostages expected to follow on Friday afternoon.

Israel and Hamas have exchanged lists of those to be released, with Hamas expected to free 13 women and children, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Ansari said. He did not specify how many Palestinian women and children will be released on Friday or when this would take place.

Israel has notified the families of the hostages set to be released on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Joe Biden said he has his “fingers crossed” that a three-year-old Israeli-American girl will be released.

• A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin at 7am local time on Friday (0500 GMT), Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Qatar, has announced. The truce, initially lasting four or five days, was announced early on Wednesday and has raised hopes for a more durable pause in the violence.

• The release of hostages is expected to follow on Friday afternoon. Israel and Hamas have exchanged lists of those to be released, with Hamas expected to free 13 women and children, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Ansari said. He did not specify how many Palestinian women and children will be released on Friday or when this would take place. Israel has notified the families of the hostages set to be released on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Joe Biden said he has his “fingers crossed” that a three-year-old Israeli-American girl will be released.

• Overall, Hamas has agreed to free at least 50 of the more than 240 mostly Israeli hostages it has held since launching bloody attacks into southern Israel on 7 October, under the terms of the agreement. In turn, Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow up to 300 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza after more than six weeks of bombardment, heavy fighting and a crippling blockade of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials.

• In a separate agreement, Hamas is set to unconditionally release 23 Thai hostages it is holding in Gaza, according to a report by the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site. The release of Thai hostages came after Iran-mediated talks, the outlet reported on Thursday.

• A special flight has evacuated 103 Russian nationals from Gaza, Russia’s emergencies ministry said early on Friday. In a post on Telegram, the ministry said the group flew to Moscow aboard a chartered Ilyushin-76 aircraft, Reuters reported. The post said 101 Russian nationals had been taken from Gaza to Egypt in the past 24 hours, bringing to more than 750 the total number of Russian evacuees. More than 650 had been flown to Russia, including more than 300 children.

• The exchange of Palestinian and Israeli female and child hostages and prisoners had been due to take place on Thursday but was postponed as last-minute logistical issues were worked out. Sources close to the negotiations said Israel had presented a series of late requests for clarification of practical issues, and demanded the full identification of the hostages Hamas intended to release.

• The diplomatic breakthrough promises the first pause in seven weeks of war in Gaza and some relief both for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the territory who have endured intensive Israeli bombardment, and for families in Israel fearful for the fate of their loved ones.

• Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the military will resume fighting against Hamas “with intensity” for at least two more months. Addressing Israeli troops on Thursday, Gallant instructed them to “organise…resupply arms, and get ready to continue” during the “short” respite in fighting.

• Israel’s army arrested the director of Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital on Thursday, more than a week after it surrounded and raided the medical facility. Mohammad abu Salmiya and other medics were detained, a colleague said, amid reports that the IDF had seized them as they were travelling with a World Health Organization evacuation convoy. The IDF confirmed Abu Salmiya had been arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet domestic security service for further questioning. Just two doctors are left at al-Shifa to treat the remaining estimated 200 patients, the hospital’s head of plastic surgery has said.

• Israeli forces bombed at least 300 targets from the air, killing dozens of Palestinians. Gaza’s health ministry said 27 people were killed in a strike on a school affiliated with the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) in Jabaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that dozens had been killed in Israeli bombing raids in Nuseirat and its camp in the central Gaza Strip, and in Jabaliya in the north. Among those reported killed in Nuseirat was a photojournalist, Mohammad Moin Ayyash, and his family.

• The IDF said it has killed the commander of Hamas’s naval forces in Khan Younis in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Amar Abu Jalalah was killed along with another member of the Hamas naval forces, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.

• More than 13,000 Palestinians have been recorded killed in Gaza since the war began, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The director of the health ministry, which is run by the Hamas government, said another 6,000 people have been reported missing and are feared buried under the rubble. Israel’s assault on Gaza followed the Hamas attack on 7 October which killed at least 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.

• UK foreign secretary David Cameron has met Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel, and expressed hope that the planned temporary truce with Hamas would be an “opportunity to crucially get hostages out and get aid into Gaza”. The Israeli prime minister told Cameron that the precondition for peace in the Middle East was the eradication of what he called the “genocidal terrorist cult” Hamas. His remarks gave the impression that Netanyahu is not currently interested in anything but a military solution to the future of Israel’s security.

• Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has urged Israel to rethink its offensive in Gaza, telling its president and prime minister the number of dead Palestinians is “truly unbearable”, and that the response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks last month cannot include “the deaths of innocent civilians, including thousands of children”.