The truce between the Israeli army and Hamas has come into force – Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Early on Wednesday, information emerged that Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, reached the first large-scale agreement since the outbreak of the conflict on October 7 and agreed to a cessation of hostilities for several days to exchange dozens of hostages. and detained. supported by each other.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari said the first group of Israeli hostages, 13 people in total, will be handed over at 4:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. Moscow time).

The plan is to exchange 50 Israeli prisoners for 150 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children.

In addition to the fact that 200 trucks with aid and four with fuel and domestic gas will enter the Gaza Strip during these four days, Hamas announced an agreement by which “Israeli aviation flights in the southern part of the country will be completely suspended.” As for the northern zone, flights are suspended during the period between 10:00 and 16:00.

Hamas is reportedly threatening to leave its battalions in full combat readiness “to protect the Palestinian people and resist the occupation, despite the temporary truce agreement with Israel.”

At the same time, the head of the Israeli Defense Department, Yoav Galant, warned that the ceasefire is only a “brief pause,” and then intense hostilities will continue for at least another two months.

It is also reported that at this time the death toll in the Gaza Strip exceeded 14.8 thousand people and 36 thousand were injured. The Russian Embassy reported that during the escalation of the conflict, 20 Russians were killed, two were taken hostage and seven were listed as missing.