A four-day truce between Hamas and Israel officially came into effect on Friday.
In total, 50 hostages are set to be released © Mena Today
A four-day truce between Hamas and Israel, aimed at facilitating the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, officially came into effect on Friday at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT).
This "humanitarian pause," negotiated with the involvement of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, comes as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its 49th day.
The first releases of hostages (13 women and children) are expected around 14:00 GMT.
In total, 50 hostages are set to be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners during this ceasefire.
The resolution passed on Wednesday by the United Nations General Assembly, calling for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories within 12 months, represents yet another example of misguided international pressure that not only lacks practicality but also undermines prospects for a meaningful peace process.
The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that an attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict and called for its perpetrators to be identified in an investigation.
Israel's Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations that killed nine people, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
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