First cease-fire takes hold in 48-day conflict

GAZA/DOHA — A four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Friday, with hostages set to be released in exchange for prisoners in the first major reprieve in seven weeks of fighting that has devastated the Palestinian enclave and claimed thousands of lives.

The two sides, after weeks of mediation by Qatar and Egypt, had agreed to silence guns and stop bombings from 7 am, in the conflict that erupted on Oct 7.

As part of the agreement, 13 women and children held hostage in Gaza are due to be freed at 4 pm, followed by a number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.

Over the four days, at least 50 hostages are expected to be released, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.

In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be freed.

Governments around the world have welcomed the agreement, with some expressing hope it will lead to a lasting end to the conflict.

"We all hope that this truce will lead to a chance to start a wider work to achieve a permanent truce," Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters in Doha.

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council: "This cannot be just a pause before the massacre starts all over again."

Israeli officials, however, said the truce will be only temporary.

"We are not ending the war. We will continue until we are victorious," said Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Israel's chief of staff.

For Gaza's more than 2 million residents, the deal brings a promise of respite from weeks of sustained Israeli bombardment.

The territory's Hamas authorities said the conflict has so far killed about 15,000 people, around 40 percent of them children, and displaced countless more. Israel said around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Oct 7.

At dawn, thousands of people who had fled to areas near Gaza's border with Egypt were preparing to return to their villages.

Minutes after the truce took effect, Omar Jibrin, 16, emerged from a hospital in the south of the enclave where he and eight family members had sought refuge.

"I'm going home," he said as he began the journey.

In Gaza, UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini spoke of the "unspeakable suffering" in the enclave.

"People are exhausted and are losing hope in humanity. They need respite, they deserve to sleep without being anxious about whether they will make it through the night. This is the bare minimum anyone should be able to have," he said.

Warning leaflets

However, Israeli warplanes over southern Gaza dropped leaflets warning people not to head back to the north. "The war is not over yet," the leaflets read. "Returning to the north is forbidden and very dangerous!!!"

By press time, there were no reports of bombings, artillery strikes or rocket attacks as Israel and Hamas started the first pause in a 48-day-old conflict.

Fighting had raged on in the hours leading up to the truce, with officials inside the Hamas-ruled enclave saying a hospital in Gaza City was among the targets bombed. Both sides also signaled the pause would be temporary before fighting resumes.

The Indonesian Hospital was reeling under relentless bombing, operating without light and filled with bedridden old people and children too weak to be moved, Gazan health officials said. Mounir El Barsh, Gaza's health ministry director, was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying that a patient, a wounded woman, was killed and three others injured.

Egypt has said 130,000 liters of diesel and four trucks of gas will be delivered daily to Gaza when the truce starts, and that 200 trucks of aid would enter Gaza daily.

Agencies - Xinhua