What’s in the deal?
The agreement is for at least a four-day pause in hostilities. During that time,at least 50 women and children – from the roughly 240 people who Israeli officials say were abducted October 7 – would be exchanged for 150 Palestinian women and minors imprisoned in Israeli jails.
The deal also includes an increase in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip. Hamas said that 200 trucks carrying relief supplies and four fuel trucks would enter the territory each day during the four-day pause. Israeli officials did not immediately comment.
Israel said its warplanes would not fly over southern Gaza for the duration of the ceasefire,and would not fly over the northern part of the territory for six hours each day.
How is it being carried out?
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson,Majed al-Ansari,said a first group of 13 hostages would then be released starting at 4pm (1am Saturday AEDT),in exchange for an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners.
Each day of the pause,Israel and Hamas will receive lists of the hostages and prisoners to be released,with Qatar passing them between the two parties,according to al-Ansari. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross would be designated to receive the hostages,although he gave no further detail on the group’s role or where the hostages would cross the border.
The Israeli government has said the hostages would be freed in four groups during the truce,each with at least 10 people.
An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity said hostages turned over by Hamas would be taken to hospitals,and the seriously injured transported by helicopter. Those younger than 12 will be met at the border by their families,the official said,while older hostages will meet their families at hospitals,where they will also be debriefed by security services.
The official said the Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons – most of them from the West Bank – will be taken by bus to their home districts. It was unclear whether they,too,would be set free in stages,but the official said the first would be released before any Israeli hostages.
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