Qatar: Gaza truce to kick off Friday at 7 a.m., 13 hostages will be freed at 4 p.m.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said Thursday afternoon that the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas would go into effect Friday at 7 a.m., while a first group of 13 Israeli hostages would be freed on Friday at 4 p.m.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Israel had received an “initial” list of names of abdu

Photo/Oded Balilty)
A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said Thursday afternoon that the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas would go into effect Friday at 7 a.m., while a first group of 13 Israeli hostages would be freed on Friday at 4 p.m.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Israel had received an “initial” list of names of abductees expected to go free. “The relevant officials are checking the details of the list and are currently in contact with all families,” it said in a statement.

Hamas’s military wing also said a ceasefire would go into effect Friday morning, and last four days. “In four days, 50 [hostages] will be released,” Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said, confirming information from Israel that three jailed Palestinian terror convicts would be freed in exchange for every Israeli hostage.
It had previously been understood that the pause in fighting would begin only after the first group of Israeli hostages was released.

The deal, which was mediated by Qatar and the US, would see Hamas release 50 Israeli women and children it took hostage on October 7, over the course of four days, in exchange for a lull in the fighting during those four days and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for terror offenses, all of them women or minors.The deal will also enable an influx of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza during the pause, which would be the first cessation of fighting since Hamas sparked the war nearly seven weeks ago when its terrorists rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, massacring some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 hostages.

ctees expected to go free. “The relevant officials are checking the details of the list and are currently in contact with all families,” it said in a statement.

Hamas’s military wing also said a ceasefire would go into effect Friday morning, and last four days. “In four days, 50 [hostages] will be released,” Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said, confirming information from Israel that three jailed Palestinian terror convicts would be freed in exchange for every Israeli hostage.