Four-day Gaza truce begins; first group of 13 Israeli hostages freed

The first truce since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted last month went into effect on Friday, with Hamas releasing a group of 13 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to reports by the Israeli media. 

Israel’s Channel 12 said 13 hostages had been transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross. There were no immediate details. They were among some 240 people captured when Hamas attacked Israel last month, triggering a devastating war.

The Red Cross confirmed an operation to “re-unite hostages and detainees with their families” has begun.
 

The organisation said it has received 24 hostages, but described the work as a “multi-day” operation which will include the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
 

In a separate agreement, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino citizen were also released by Hamas. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a social media post that the 12 Thais had been released from captivity in Gaza. There was no further information immediately available about the Thai prisoners, whose release had not previously been anno­unced as one of the terms of an agreed prisoner swap accompanying the first truce of the seven-week-old war.
 

Meanwhile, Israeli security forces fired tear gas at a crowd of Palestinians gathered to greet prisoners who are to be released from Israeli jails as part of a truce between Israel and Hamas, AP journalists in the West Bank witnessed. Palestinian authorities released a list of 39 Palestinian prisoners expected to be released on Friday, including 24 women and 15 teenage boys. 
 

The head of the Palestinian Authority’s prisoners’ commission, Qadura Fares, said that as soon as Israel received the hostages at the Rafah crossing, Israel’s prisons’ authority would move the Palestinian prisoners to the Red Cross.
 

There were no reports of fighting in the hours after the truce began. The deal offered some relief for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment and dwindling supplies of basic necessities, as well as for families in Israel worried about loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ October 7 attack, which triggered the war.
 

Israel has agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 litres (34,340 gallons) of fuel per day during the truce — still only a small portion of Gaza's estimated daily needs of more than 1 million litres. For most of the past seven weeks of war, Israel had barred the entry of fuel to Gaza, claiming it could be used by Hamas for military purposes - though it has occasionally allowed small amounts in.
 

UN aid agencies pushed back against the claim, saying fuel deliveries were closely supervised and urgently needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe since fuel is required to run generators that power water treatment facilities, hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
 

The Israeli military dropped leaflets over southern Gaza, warning hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge there not to return to their homes in the territory’s north, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. Even though Israel warned that it would block such attempts, hundreds of Palestinians could be seen walking north on Friday. Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded. An Associated Press journalist saw the two bodies and the wounded as they arrived at a hospital.
 

Sofian Abu Amer, who had fled Gaza City, said he decided to risk heading north to check on his home. “We don't have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. “The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die.” 
 

US President Joe Biden has hailed the deal as a step toward eventually seeing all the hostages freed and getting more food and medicine into Gaza to ease what the United Nations says is a humanitarian disaster. A second stage of the truce could see the pause in fighting. Of the 40 children abdu­cted, most are female and they include a 10-month-old infant, a three-year-old whose parents were killed on October 7 and some with life-threatening food allergies and autism, said Hagai Levine of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which was set up to represent the families. Ahead of the pause, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman called for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. After a call with UK Secretary of Defense Grant Shapps late Thursday he said: “I stressed the need to end military operations, protect civilians and allow unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid.”
 

Iran welcomed the truce and warned the war should not be restarted. “If the Israeli regime continues the war after this stage of the truce, the conditions in the region will become more tense and the reactions will spread,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabd­ollahian said.
 

Iran’s ‘Crown Jewel’ Has Much to Lose From Total War With Israel
 

Iran backs Hezbollah, a militia based in Lebanon near Israel’s northern border, as well as Hamas. The Israeli military and Hezbollah have exchanged fire regularly since the war began. But so far the group — also designated a terrorist organisation by the US and EU — has refrained from a full-on assault against Israel.
 

Biden spoke to Netanyahu on Thursday and emphasised “the importance of maintaining calm along the Lebanese border as well as in the West Bank” during the cease-fire in Gaza. The prime minister made no concrete commitments, according to Israel’s Channel 13.
 

War to continue after ceasefire: Netanyahu

Israel's foreign minister said Friday that Israel will resume the war against Hamas after a temporary cease-fire ends.

A truce in the Israel-Hamas war began Friday, setting the stage for the release of 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The releases are to take place in stages over four days.
 

The truce could be extended by a day for each additional release of 10 more hostages - an arrangement that could translate into a longer cease-fire. In all, militants from Hamas and other groups kidnapped about 240 people in their October 7 attack on Israel.
 

“Israel will continue its war on Hamas and we will not stop until we achieve our two main goals, overthrowing the rule of Hamas and returning all the abductees back to us, safe and sound,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Friday.