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Qatar’s foreign ministry has said that a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas would take effect on Friday, after the long-awaited agreement was delayed by a day.
The ceasefire, which Hamas said would also cover other Palestinian militant groups, will begin at 7am local time on Friday, and the first tranche of hostages, made up of 13 women and children, will be released at 4pm local time, the foreign ministry in Doha said.
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed that it had received “an initial list of names” of those to be released, and that officials were checking the details and in contact with the hostages’ families.
Israeli and Hamas officials said on Wednesday that a deal had been struck under which Hamas would free 50 hostages held in Gaza, in exchange for a four-day truce and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The deal had been expected to take effect on Thursday morning. But in a brief statement late on Wednesday, the head of the National Security Council Tzachi Hanegbi said the release would take place “not before Friday”.
Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Qatar, which has played a key role in mediating the talks, said the delay had been due to “very difficult” discussions over “schematics and details”. But he also said everything was now in place for the deal to go ahead, adding that it was in “nobody’s interest to delay the implementation” of the agreement.
Despite the prospect of a deal, fighting continued on Thursday, with the Israeli military saying it was striking targets in Jabalia in northern Gaza, and militants firing rockets at Israel from the strip. Israeli forces also traded fire with Hizbollah militants on the northern border with Lebanon.
“Until we are given an order to hold fire, our operations are continuing,” said Richard Hecht, a spokesperson for the Israeli military. “Operations against Hamas are continuing in all arenas.”
Israel’s military also said it had detained the director of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City in connection with what it said was Hamas activity at the hospital. Israel has long claimed that the facility sits on top of tunnels housing a command centre for the militant group.
In recent days the Israeli military has released footage of a tunnel found at the site, as well as security camera videos it said showed Hamas fighters bringing two hostages into the hospital. Hamas has denied using the hospital for military activities.
The four-day truce would be the longest pause in fighting since the war erupted on October 7. Under the terms of the deal, the first 50 of the roughly 240 hostages held in Gaza would be released in groups of at least 10 a day, staggered over four days.
Israel will release three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage freed, and 200 trucks of aid per day will also be allowed into Gaza, where 2.3mn people have been living in dire conditions since Israel severely restricted supplies of food, water, electricity and fuel at the start of the war.
The deal could be extended in a second phase to encompass the release of up to 50 more hostages, and up to 150 more Palestinian prisoners.
Hizbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia group, has said it would respect the terms of the truce, “if Israel does”. Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country also backed the truce.
However, even if the exchange is completed, Hamas will still hold about 150 prisoners, including Israeli soldiers, whom the militant group has previously indicated it hopes to trade for high-ranking Palestinians, some of them militants, in Israeli prisons.
Speaking at a press conference with UK foreign secretary David Cameron on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that the deal would not end hostilities, and that after the hostage exchange Israel would continue fighting until it had achieved its aim of destroying Hamas.
“We’ll continue with our war aims, namely to eradicate Hamas, because Hamas has already promised that they will do this again and again and again,” he said.
Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the enclave on October 7, and carried out the deadliest ever attack on Israeli territory, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 13,300 people, including more than 5,300 children, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing more than 1.7mn people.