Israel-Hamas ceasefire begins, setting stage for hostage release

A four-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war took effect early Friday, opening a window for the release of 50 hostages held by the terror group in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The temporary truce began at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and set the stage for releases to take place over the next four days.

The truce was negotiated with the help of  Qatar, the United States and Egypt.

The Qatari foreign ministry announced Thursday that a hostage deal between Israel and the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group would begin Friday morning.

Earlier this week, the Israeli government announced that it had approved a deal in which Hamas would release up to 50 hostages in batches in exchange for a four-day pause in the fighting. The group could release a further 30 in exchange for another four-day pause. Initially expected to begin Thursday, Israeli officials confirmed that no releases would begin before Friday.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari on Thursday confirmed the pause in fighting will begin at 7 a.m., but the first slate of hostages will not be released until 4 p.m. the same day. The middle eastern nation acted as a broker for the deal.

The current hostilities were sparked by an Oct. 7 Hamas raid that saw its forces storm Israeli border towns, kill 1,200 civilians, and seize more than 239 hostages. 

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.