Gaza truce to

start today at

10:00am PST

News Desk

Doha: Qatar’s foreign ministry says the truce will begin at 7am (10:00 am PST) local time on Friday. The first 13 captives will be released at 4pm (07:00pm PST) local time. Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said, during a news conference in Doha: “Those hostages who are from the same families will be put together within the same patch. “Obviously every day will include a number of civilians as agreed to total 50 within the four days.” “The communications that took place all through yesterday went on until early morning today with the Egyptians and the parties of the conflict present here in Doha,” said Majed al-Ansari. “The meetings went very well and in a positive environment. “The result of course was the implementation plan of the agreement, which we have always said needed to be something that is concrete and very ready to create a safe environment for the release of hostages.” Al-Ansari says he cannot disclose information about the routes by which the captives will be taken out of Gaza for “security reasons”. “Our main objective here is the safety of the hostages,” he told reporters. “We will be focusing on making sure that they get there safely through our operations room,” he said, adding that there will be collaboration with the Red Cross and the parties to the conflict. Answering a question about the release of non-Israeli captives, al-Ansari replied:

“The criteria on which to prioritise the hostages were purely humanitarian and our focus was getting the women and children out of harm’s way as soon as possible.” He added that the hope was that “the momentum carried by this deal will help us get everybody out in time and at the same time, of course, lessen the hardship of the people in Gaza through the humanitarian pause that is taking place”. In response to a question, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson says that humanitarian aid is “an integral part” of the deal. “We are expecting aid to go in as soon as possible from the Rafah crossing,” al-Ansari said. “It will be a fraction of the need in Gaza. The need is so great in Gaza,” he added.

“Of course, our aim is for this deal to end with a lasting truce.” Al-Ansari tells reporters he cannot disclose how many Palestinian prisoners will be released on Friday. “But I can tell you that the deal is reciprocal, so we’re expecting a release to happen also on the Israeli side … as a result of the release of hostages around 4pm in Doha,” he said. Al-Ansari says the lists with the names “are a day-by-day process”. “Whenever we have both lists confirmed, this is when we can begin with the process of getting the people out. But there is an agreement with the time intervals. “Our teams have been working day and night,” he added. “The first release [of captives] will be of 13 individuals – women and children,” the spokesperson of the Qatari foreign ministry says. “They will be released at approximately 4pm (14:00 GMT),” al-Ansari added. “That will be happening every day within a specific window of time where the situation will be much safer for them to move about. They will be handed over to Red Cross … and the idea is to make the transfer as safe as possible for all parties,” he said.

On the other hand, The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Thursday held the Israeli occupation forces fully responsible for the lives and safety of the doctors, who were detained on Wednesday.

It announced that it will stop coordinating with World Health Organization (WHO) on the rest of evacuations until the international agency submits a report on the Israeli detention of medical personnel and until they are all released.

The spokesman of the Ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, said in a press conference at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, “The United Nations bears full responsibility for this event, and we await appropriate and urgent measures on their part to address this situation”. 

He pointed out that they were informed by the United Nations about coordination with WHO to evacuate those who were present in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, which is subject to Israeli siege, raids, and destruction, and were stranded inside the hospital with no food, water, medicine, electricity, or security.

Al-Qudra explained that a convoy from the United Nations, represented by WHO, moved on Wednesday to evacuate some of the patients and medical staff who were subjected to the most horrific Nazi practices in addition to starvation. 

 “We were surprised that this convoy was stopped by the Israeli checkpoint separating the north from south of Gaza, for about seven hours, during which Israeli occupation forces maltreated the patients, their companions, and the medical staff, before arresting a number of them, including Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya,” Al-Qudra said.