First batch of 13 Gaza hostages will be freed tomorrow after Israel and Hamas agree who will be released – with ceasefire beginning from 7am

The first group of 13 hostages held in Gaza will be released tomorrow at 4pm after Israel and Hamas finally agreed on which captives should be freed first. 

The four-day ceasefire will begin at 7am tomorrow, and nine hours later the first set of women and children kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on October 7 will be released, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.   

Majed Al-Ansari added that talks between Israel and Hamas had finally ended after both sides agreed on the names of those who are coming home tomorrow. That list has been handed over to officials. 

Israel had agreed Wednesday on a deal that will see 50 women and children kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on October freed during a four-day truce, leaving their families with an agonising wait to see if their loved ones are coming home. 

The process of recovering those hostages was expected to start today at 10am (8am GMT) but officials said that no captives would be released until Friday, prolonging their relatives’ torment.

Now, it has emerged that the first group of hostages – 13 women and children – will be released via the Red Cross at 4pm tomorrow, once again raising the hopes of the captives’ anguished families.  

The exhausted families have been waiting in torment, not knowing if their loved once will be among those released. But for some, that agonising wait is set to come to an end tomorrow after Israel confirmed it had received a list of hostages to be released.

Majed Al-Ansari told reporters in Doha the lists of all civilians that would be released from Gaza had been agreed

A Palestinian man carries an injured man as people flee following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday 

People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in airstrikes on Wednesday in Khan Younis

Smoke rises after an explosion following an Israeli strike on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel, on Thursday 

Among those waiting for news will be London-based father Thomas Hand, whose nine-year-old daughter Emily is among those being held inside the territory

The truce had been delayed earlier today because Israel and Hamas failed to agree on which hostages would be released first and how, a Palestinian official said. 

The anguished relatives of the hostages have spoken of their fear that Hamas cannot be trusted, with one exhausted family member saying the terrorists will ‘do everything they can to ruin the deal’. 

Israeli officials have said that they would not tell the families in advance to spare them the distress if Hamas were to change their minds or choose to release different relatives when the ceasefire begins.

Last night, Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesperson, said the release of the hostages, in exchange for 150 Palestinians, was a ‘complicated and not closed process’.

‘The coming days will be characterised by moments of relief and moments of pain,’ Hagari said. ‘They can also include attempts at psychological terrorism by the terrorist organisation.’

The truce agreement had raised hopes of eventually winding down the war, which has leveled vast swaths of Gaza, fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank, and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.

But last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed during a televised news conference to ‘rescue all hostages held by Hamas’ and ‘obliterate’ the terrorist group.

Netanyahu, joined by the two other members of his special war cabinet, also said that following the four-day ceasefire, the war would resume and continue ‘until we achieve all our goals’.

Israel’s goals are to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and return all 240 hostages held captive in Gaza.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is to free 50 women and children of the around 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said.

In return, Israel will free 150 Palestinians held in Israeli jails and allow 300 aid trucks into Gaza every day of the ceasefire to get much needed aid to civilians trapped there.

The hostages to be freed in the process are women and children, and the Palestinian prisoners are women and male detainees aged 18 and younger. 

There are at least 35 children among the hostages, 18 of them aged 10 and under, according to an AFP count, as well as more than 50 women. 

Israel said the exchange would take place in two phases. In a first step, 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners are set to be released during the truce. If successful, a second phase could see 150 more Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for another 50 hostages during an extended truce, the Israeli government said. 

Netanyahu, addressing the families of kidnapped Israelis on Wednesday, said that since the beginning of the war, he has not stopped thinking about them and their loved ones. He also reassured them that ‘we will rescue all hostages held by Hamas’. 

He also revealed that the truce deal was reached due to the exerted ‘massive military pressure’ on Hamas as well as diplomatic efforts from his government.

Netanyahu (pictured) addressed the families of the hostages and said since the beginning of the war, he has not stopped thinking about them and their loved ones, adding that ‘we will rescue all hostages held by Hamas’

Hospitals across Israel are on standby to receive the 50 or so hostages that will begin to arrive over the next four days when a four-day ceasefire starts at 10am tomorrow (pictured: photos of hostages in Tel Aviv’s Museum of Modern Art)

Israeli troops patrol along a street during a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, on Wednesday

Source: Read Full Article