Israel and Hamas begin fragile four-day truce as first 13 hostages to be freed
24 November 2023, 05:33 | Updated: 24 November 2023, 06:41
A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas has begun, with the first group of hostages set to be released later on Friday.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The halt in fighting was scheduled to begin at 7am local time (5am GMT) and is to last at least four days, according to Qatari officials.
The Gulf state, which has been acting as a mediator in the Gaza war, said 13 people being held by Hamas will be released to begin with.
Among the 50 hostages the group is expected to eventually release are elderly women and children. The first group will be handed over to the Red Cross at 4pm and families will be put in the same groups as each other.
Majid al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry, said the priority was to get "women and children out of harm's way as soon as possible". Hamas took about 240 people in its October 7 attack.
Friday is the first of four days that should see Israel and Hamas stop fighting, with Qatar adding it is hoped the truce will hold longer.
Any hope of a lasting ceasefire is unlikely to be realised, given Israel's determination to destroy Hamas in its invasion of Gaza despite some international calls for a halt in the fighting to get aid into the strip and stop civilian casualties.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he wants to "continue with the goals of the war and we will eradicate Hamas".
Western allies of Israel, including the UK, have rejected calls for a total ceasefire and endorsed its bid to take action after the October 7 massacre.
Hamas's health ministry in Gaza has claimed more than 14,000 people have been killed since Israel launched Operation Iron Swords.
Central to the campaign is the al-Shifa hospital, targeted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) earlier in the campaign as they said it was part of Hamas's network in Gaza.
Soldiers have taken away the hospital's director for questioning after capturing it in the ground assault, which has focused on Gaza city in the north of the strip.
Meanwhile, David Cameron visited Israel on Thursday as he met Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
He said there is "never any excuse for this sort of hostage-taking" and called for Hamas to release all of its captives, including British nationals.
He recalled how he had to endure seeing Brits taken hostage in Syria during his time in No10, with many losing their lives "in the most gruesome, terrible fashion".
"There is no hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab countries if we do not eradicate this murderous movement, which threatens the future of all of us," the peer said of Hamas.
