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International Business Times
International Business Times
World
Marvie Basilan

Israel-Hamas Conflict Live: Gaza Ceasefire Begins; 13 Hostages, 39 Palestinians To Be Freed

Hamas Israel IDF Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Jonathan Conricus alShifa hospital (Organization)

KEY POINTS

  • Hamas is expected to release more than a dozen hostages Friday afternoon
  • Iran reportedly mediated a separate 'unconditional' hostage deal between the Thai government and Hamas
  • Netanyahu has said the war will resume after the ceasefire
  • The IDF has 'forbidden' residents from moving from the southern to the northern Gaza Strip
Live Updates
Maayan Zin, whose eight- and 15-year-old daughters Ela and Dafna, are among the hostages being held in Gaza, holds up photos of her abducted children. Only 13 hostages are expected to be freed by Hamas on Friday as part of a ceasefire agreement that should see a total of 50 hostages freed. (Credit: AFP)

It's the 49th day of the Israel-Hamas war, and the ceasefire agreement that includes the release of 50 hostages being held by Hamas has finally begun following a one-day delay and weeks of stalled negotiations.

  • Qatar, a mediator alongside Egypt in the ceasefire-hostage deal, announced Thursday that the truce will begin at 7 a.m. Friday local time (12 a.m. ET). Hamas is expected to free 13 women and children at 4 p.m. Friday local time (9 a.m. ET).
  • A separate Thailand-Hamas agreement will reportedly see the release of 23 Thai hostages.
  • Rocket sirens were heard in southern Israel minutes before the truce came into effect.
  • The IDF has forbidden movement from the south to the northern part of the Gaza Strip amid the ceasefire.
  • The Israel-Hamas four-day ceasefire has finally started.
  • Rocket sirens sounded in two Gaza border communities 15 minutes after the ceasefire began.
  • Aid trucks have started entering the enclave.
  • The Israel Prison Service has reportedly started processing 39 Palestinian detainees for release Friday as part of the truce deal.
  • Fuel and cooking gas trucks have been delivered to UN groups in southern Gaza, the Israeli army said.
  • A five-step process is reportedly involved in the release of hostages, the last being their reunion with loved ones.
  • A Palestinian official said Israel will on Friday release 39 Palestinian detainees: 24 women and 15 teenaged males.
  • An incoming hostile aircraft alert sounded in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
  • Thailand welcomes the ceasefire, but has not yet confirmed whether it agreed on a separate hostage deal with Hamas as per earlier reports.
  • The IDF said it has completed reception preparations for returning hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that Israel will resume the war once the ceasefire-hostage deal is upheld.

The much-anticipated truce came around seven weeks since Hamas operatives launched a surprise attack in Israel, killing more than a thousand people and abducting over 200 Israelis and foreign nationals. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) started ground operations in the Gaza Strip late last month and said it has since destroyed hundreds of Hamas tunnel shafts.

Longstanding Israel-Palestine tensions blew up once the war started as supporters of the warring sides staged protests around the world. U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed his country's support for Israel while reminding its Middle Eastern ally to defend itself under international and humanitarian laws.

85 trucks, 2 ambulances arrive in Gaza: PRCS

Two ambulances and 85 trucks "loaded with aid" from the Egyptian Red Crescent have been received by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), it said Friday morning. The trucks carried essential supplies including medical equipment and other relief items, the PRCS said.

Under the ceasefire-hostage deal, hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks are expected to be allowed entry into the Gaza Strip.

IDF shows reception efforts for hostages returning to Israel

The Israeli army said it has completed preparations to receive hostages that will return home Friday. IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Daniel Hagari published footage that showed the reception area and items that the returning abductees will receive upon their arrival, which include clothing, blankets, toys for children and other necessities.

PIJ-linked individual killed in arrest operation

Muhammad Hanawi, described by the Israeli army as "an armed terrorist associated with the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad (PIJ)," was killed during an arrest operation in Jericho, the IDF said Friday.

Hanawi alleged recruited a paramilitary squad to attack Israeli forces in the past months.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad members gather near a damaged house after an Israeli airstrike in the Rafah refugee camp area. (Credit: AFP)

Thailand hopes 'momentum can be maintained' in ceasefire deal

Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it welcomes the "breakthrough" in a ceasefire-hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas that kicked off earlier Friday. "Thailand fervently hopes that this momentum can be maintained so that the remaining hostages, which include Thai nationals, are released at the earliest opportunity," the MFA said in a statement.

The ministry's statement came amid reports that Hamas has agreed to free 23 Thai hostages under an agreement brokered by Iran. The Thai government has yet to confirm the reports.

Hostile aircraft alert in Eilat

A hostile aircraft alert sounded in Israel's southern port city of Eilat, local media reported.

The alert comes two weeks after a drone strike from Syrian territory hit a school in Eilat. Israel said at the time that it struck military assets in Syria in response to the strike.

Israel will release women and minor detainees: Palestinian official

Israel will on Friday release 24 women and 15 teenaged males being held in Israeli prisons, Reuters reported, citing Qadura Fares, Palestinian commissioner for prisoners.

The 39 Palestinian detainees will be handed over at around 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Fares said.

"After the Red Cross receives the (Palestinian) prisoners, the ones from Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem and the ones from the West Bank will gather in Betunia municipal council where their families will be waiting," he told the outlet.

5-step process involved in hostage release: report

Hostages that Hamas will release Friday afternoon will go through a five-step process, the last being their reunion with families and loved ones, local i24 News correspondent Ariel Oseran wrote on X, citing Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper and Israeli officials.

The first step will see Hamas handing over the hostages to the Red Cross and other international groups within the Gaza Strip. The next step will see hostages leaving Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

In the third stage, the freed hostages will be taken to the Al-Arish airport and flown on a private jet to Israel's Hatzerim base. Next, they will undergo initial health checks before they are taken to a hospital.

Finally, the hostages will be allowed to reunite with their families and will be questioned by Israeli security officials at the hospital.

Relatives, friends and supporters of Alon Ohel, held hostage in Gaza by Hamas militants, protest in Tel Aviv to ask for the release of more than 200 individuals abducted by the terror group on Oct. 7. (Credit: AFP)

IDF destroys tunnel unearthed at Al-Shifa Hospital before ceasefire

The IDF said it destroyed the tunnel Israeli troops uncovered beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital Friday morning, before the ceasefire deal took effect. Also, it completed "operational assessment of the ceasefire lines" before the truce started.

The Israeli army has published footage and images of the tunnel under Gaza's largest medical complex that the IDF said had been used by Hamas as a command center. Multiple outlets have confirmed that the tunnel was located within the Al-Shifa compound.

4 fuel trucks, 4 cooking gas tankers enter Gaza: IDF

Four trucks carrying fuel and another four carrying cooking gas "designated for operating essential humanitarian infrastructure" were delivered Friday morning to United Nations humanitarian aid groups in southern Gaza, the IDF said Friday.

The entry of fuel and cooking gas from Egypt into enclave is in compliance with the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army added. Israel has agreed to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the strip under the ceasefire-hostage deal.

Israel expected to release 39 Palestinian detainees

Israel's Prison Service received a list of 39 women and underage Palestinians that will be freed today as part of the truce deal with Hamas and has reportedly started processing the inmates slated for release, as per The Times of Israel.

Hamas previously said the deal includes the release of 150 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.

Pictured: Palestinian supporters of the militant group Hamas rally in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Credit: AFP)

Aid trucks enter Gaza

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered Gaza more than an hour after the four-day ceasefire came into effect. The exact number of humanitarian trucks to have entered the enclave since the ceasefire started is unclear.

Under the truce deal, Israel has agreed to allow more aid to enter the strip, including fuel.

Aid trucks prepare entry into Gaza

Humanitarian aid trucks are preparing to enter the Gaza Strip as part of the four-day ceasefire that includes the daily entry of hundreds of trucks into the enclave.

Hamas sources previously said the deal, before it was agreed on, proposed the entry of up to 300 aid trucks into the strip daily.

Rocket sirens sound in Israel's southern border communities

About 15 minutes after the ceasefire came into effect, rocket sirens sounded in the Gaza border communities of Ein Hashalom and Kissufim, according to local outlets and social media posts.

IDF forbids movement in northern Gaza Strip

The Israeli army said movement within the northern Gaza Strip was "forbidden" as the area remains "a dangerous war zone" even with the temporary ceasefire.

While the IDF will continue to open a humanitarian corridor for evacuating northern residents to the south through the Salah Al-Din Road, "the movement of residents from the south of the Strip to the north will not be allowed in any way," said IDF spokesperson for Arab media Lt. Col Avichay Adraee, minutes before the truce came into effect.

Sirens sound in southern Israel minutes before truce begins

Rocket sirens are sounding in southern Israel, several minutes before the much-awaited four-day ceasefire in Gaza kicks off, local media reported.

Israeli army confirms arrest of Al-Shifa Hospital chief

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus confirmed Friday that the "manager" of Al-Shifa's hospital has been arrested for questioning following Thursday reports from local media that Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the hospital's director.

He said Hamas used Gaza's largest medical complex "in the presence of medical staff." He added that the two hostages abducted on Oct. 7, were brought into the Al-Shifa and held at the facility "with knowledge of Shifa medical personnel."

Conricus clarified that the hospital's chief has not yet been indicted and was still being interrogated. "It is about high time that the world recognizes ... and say, yes, IDF was right, that Hamas had been using the hospital for military purposes, and this is a violation of humanitarian law," he said.

Israel's war cabinet meets after ceasefire start time announced

Israel's war cabinet, which comprises of Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant and minister without portfolio Benny Gantz, met Thursday night for a "security discussion" after Qatar announced the ceasefire's start time.

Commander of Hamas naval troops in Khan Yunis neutralized: IDF

Amar Abu Jalalah, commander of Hamas' naval forces in Khan Yunis, has been neutralized in Israeli air strikes Thursday, the IDF said. Jalalah was allegedly involved in sea attacks into Israel that the Israeli army thwarted.

23 Thai hostages to be released unconditionally: report

A separate agreement between Hamas and the Thai government will see the militant group freeing 23 Thai hostages "unconditionally," multiple outlets reported, citing pan-Arab news site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. The deal was mediated by Iran, as per the report.

Thailand previously revealed that there are 25 Thai nationals believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

The first batch of more than a dozen hostages being held by Hamas will be freed Friday afternoon as part of the ceasefire agreement. (Credit: AFP)

Hamas to free 13 women and children: Qatar

The ceasefire in Gaza will begin 7 a.m. Friday local time, official spokesman of the Qatari foreign ministry Majed Al Ansari said Thursday.

As part of the truce agreement, the "first batch" of hostages, 13 women and children, will be released at 4 p.m. Friday local time, he added.

Netanyahu's office said it was in communication with the families of hostages, both for those who will be freed and those who will remain in Gaza, after it received "a first list of names" of hostages to be released. Israel did not publish the list.

Read the full story here.

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