A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect, with captives held in Gaza to be released in exchange for Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons.
The truce, broke by mediation of United States, Qatar and Egypt, begun after prolonged delay of 24 hours and killing of over 1,400 Palestinains mostly children after October 7 surprise attack in which 1,400 people killed.
The pause in fighting is due to begin at 7:00 am (05:00 GMT) in the Palestinian territories and Israel.
More than 14,800 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at about 1,200.
Israel intensified it attacks ahead of the pause in fighting, including an airstrike that killed at least 27 people at a UN school.
The first group of Israeli captives – 13 women and children – will be released at about 4pm local time (14:00 GMT).
The Red Cross will escort them to the Rafah border crossing and hand them over to the Israeli military who will begin the identification process.
The captives will be taken to hospitals in Tel Aviv for physical and psychological tests. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners are also going to be released from Israel as part of the swap on the first day. They will be taken from two Israeli prisons: Damon and Megiddo, both southeast of Haifa.
They will then be driven to the Ofer prison, south of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and from there to a nearby crossing and handed over to their families. Much-needed humanitarian aid is also expected to cross from Egypt into Gaza in the hours that follow. Hamas says 200 aid trucks and more trucks of fuel will enter Gaza daily.
