The four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, which includes the release of 50 kidnapped people in the hands of the fundamentalist group, comes into effect this Friday morning. The fact that Qatar, with enormous influence over Hamas and under pressure from the United States, was the one to officially and publicly announce it makes a new fiasco like the one that led to the postponement of the ceasefire planned this Thursday difficult.
The agreement will allow a humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip and the release of some of the citizens kidnapped in the Hamas attack on October 7 that unleashed the massive Israeli offensive. The Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majid Al Ansari, announced that the truce must begin at 7 in the morning while 13 children and women will be released at four in the afternoon from Gaza to Israel via Egypt.
The Israeli authorities informed the families of the first list of kidnapped people to be released and those who were not. All of them – from the attacked kibbutzim and today in hotels for displaced people – have been waiting, devastated, between uncertainty and pain, for 48 days. If the ceasefire lasts four days, it could be extended if Hamas releases more than the 30 children and 20 women agreed upon. In total, there are 40 children among the 239 kidnapped.
Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners (39 this Friday), including women and minors, who are serving sentences in its prisons and will increase the entry of fuel (to eight tanker trucks) and humanitarian aid in the punished Palestinian enclave that could experience its first weekend without airstrikes since the second week of October.
“The truce is in force for four days, starting Friday morning and includes a cessation of all military operations by the Ezzedin Qasam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance and also by the Zionist enemy throughout the truce,” Hamas reported, highlighting that Israel It will not be able to activate surveillance drones in the south of Gaza while it will not be able to activate surveillance drones in the north between 10 and 4 in the afternoon.
Yahia Sinwar’s militia sees the truce as an opportunity to breathe in the face of unprecedented Israeli military pressure, reorganize after being severely hit and try, with the help of international pressure, to not resume the offensive that seeks to dismantle its armed wing and power. in Gaza. For Qatar, one of the great objectives of Hudna is for it to be the base to end the war. Something that Israel warns will not happen until there are no more threats from Gaza on its cities.
Hamas denounced the arrest of the director of the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, and called on the UN to take “urgent measures against the despicable act that contradicts international laws.” Israel confirmed the arrest in a humanitarian corridor to the south. “He is being interrogated after the evidence found in his hospital, under his direction, which shows that it served as a command and control center for Hamas and where participants in the 7-O massacre hid,” replied the Army, which on the other hand intensified their attacks in the Jabalia area. The bombs and fighting in Palestinian territory and the projectiles against Israel will continue until one minute before the truce begins.