The temporary pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas will start at 7 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on Friday and the exchange of the first group of hostages will start at 4 p.m., Qatar’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
The truce would include a temporary cease-fire in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip, ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters in Doha, adding that Palestinians would also be released from Israeli jails as part of the deal.
The lists of civilians to be released from Gaza had been agreed, Ansari said.
The first pause in the seven-week-old war is meant to be accompanied by the release of 50 women and children hostages captured by Hamas who raided Israel on Oct. 7, in exchange for 150 Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails.
Israel has said the truce could last beyond the initial four days, as long as Hamas frees at least 10 hostages per day.
Ansari said Qatar hoped to negotiate a subsequent agreement to release additional hostages from Gaza by the fourth day of the truce.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said Thursday that authorities were in contact with the families of all the hostages being held in Gaza after receiving “a first list of names.”
It did not immediately specify who was on the list.
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