By AFP
A four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war was set to start Friday with hostages to be released in exchange for prisoners, the first major reprieve in seven weeks of conflict that have claimed thousands of lives.
After prolonged negotiations, deliberations and delay, the pause was due to begin at 7:00 am (0500 GMT), silencing guns that have raged since Hamas’s murderous raids into Israel on October 7.
The start of the truce is set to be followed by the release of a first group of 13 hostages being held in Gaza, and an undefined number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari peacebrokers.
For Gaza’s two million-plus residents, the deal spells a respite from relentless Israeli bombardments, which the strip’s Hamas government says have killed about 15,000 people and displaced countless more.
– Too late –
For many Palestinian families, the truce comes too late.
“The living here are the ones who are dead,” said Fida Zayed, whose 20-year-old son Udai was killed in a recent air strike, told AFP.
“The last thing he said to me was that he was waiting for the truce on Friday,” she told AFP. “He asked me to prepare him a feast of rice and chicken.”
“I hope me and my children die here so we don’t have to mourn each other,” she said.
Qatari officials said the “first batch” of 13 hostages released would be women and children from the same families.
At least 50 hostages are expected to be released over the four days.
Teams of Israeli trauma experts and medics will await them — along with specially trained soldiers who, according to guidelines, will promise to keep them safe and carry a child’s favourite food item, be it pizza or chicken schnitzel.
AFP has confirmed the identities of 210 of the roughly 240 people abducted during cross-border attacks by Hamas on military posts, communities and a desert music festival.
At least 35 of those taken hostage were children, with 18 of them aged 10 or under at the time of the Hamas attack.
Little is publicly known about the conditions the hostages have been held in.
“Given the barbaric nature of the attacks and captivity we can only prepare for worst case scenarios,” said Moty Cristal, a retired Israeli military official with experience in hostage negotiations.
Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would also be released on Friday, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said, adding a list of names had been approved, without saying how many.
The agreement entailed a “complete ceasefire with no attacks from the air or the ground” and the skies clear of drones to “allow for the hostage release to happen in a safe environment”, Ansari said
