Israel and Hamas agree on a four-day truce over hostage release and allowing aid into Gaza

Israel and Hamas are reported to have agreed on a four-day truce over hostage release and allowing aid into Gaza!

The truce is expected to start at 10 am (08:00 GMT) on Thursday.

The 4-day truce is aimed at:

• 50 Israeli hostages to be released
• 150 Palestinians freed from jail
• no military operation for four days
• Israel to allow more relief aid

On Wednesday, Israel’s government and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce to allow the release of some hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

The agreement is the first truce of a conflict that was triggered over Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel following which Israeli bombardments have flattened swathes of Gaza, killed 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless and displaced.

The State of Qatar on Wednesday announced that a humanitarian pause has been agreed upon in Gaza.

Mediator Qatar called the agreement a “humanitarian pause” in a statement issued on Wednesday.

A statement issued from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting.

For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

“Israel’s government is committed to returning all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” the statement said, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press.

However, Israel’s justice ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who could be freed.

On the other hand, Hamas upon reaching the agreement said the initial 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails.

Hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel supplies would enter Gaza, while Israel would halt all air sorties over southern Gaza and maintain a daily six-hour daytime no-fly window in the north, according to Hamas.

Israel had committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period, it added.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden welcomed the deal.

“Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released,” Biden said in a statement.

However, pending the start of the truce there was no let-up in fighting in the Gaza Strip.