Humanitarian pause in Gaza will start on Friday morning, confirms Al-Qassam

By Hamdi Yilmaz

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, confirmed on Thursday that the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip for a duration of four days will begin on Friday morning, accompanied by a cessation of all military activities between the Palestinian ‘resistance’ and Israel.

This confirmation by Al-Qassam Brigades in a statement on Telegram coincided with the announcement by the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari in a press conference in Doha that “the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip will begin tomorrow, Friday, at 7 a.m. local time.”

Al-Qassam stated: “The humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip for 4 days will begin tomorrow morning, Friday, accompanied by a cessation of all military actions by the brigades, Palestinian resistance, and Israel.”

“The hostile aircraft will cease flying for 6 hours daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (local time) in the city of Gaza and its north,” according to the statement.

It clarified that “3 Palestinian hostages, including women and children, will be released for each Israeli prisoner, and during the four days, 50 Israeli hostages, including women and children under 19 years old, will be released.”

The statement concluded by saying: “Every day (during the four days of the pause), 200 trucks of humanitarian and medical supplies will be delivered to all areas of the Gaza Strip, in addition to 4 fuel trucks and cooking gas for all areas of the sector.”

In the early hours of Wednesday, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced the agreement on a humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, with joint mediation by Egypt and the United States.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, killing more than 14,532 Palestinians, including over 6,000 children and 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala