Truce deal in Gaza enters into force, prisoner release set for 5pm

Cairo, Egypt | Xinhua | The first temporary humanitarian truce between Hamas and Israel entered into force at 7:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Friday in the Gaza Strip.

Confirming the truce agreement had taken effect, Diaa Rashwan, chairman of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said in a statement that 130,000 liters of diesel and four trucks of gas from Egypt will enter the Gaza Strip daily.

Some 200 trucks, loaded with food, medicine and water, can enter daily for the first time since the start of the war on Oct. 7, he said.

Egypt will continue to receive wounded and injured children from Gaza for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, helping foreigners and dual nationals detained in the Gaza Strip travel to their own countries, the SIS’s chairman said.

He added that the Egyptian side will also allow the entry of Palestinians stranded in the country into the Gaza Strip at their will.

The truce is scheduled to be followed by the release of 13 Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip at 4:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).

Hamas and Israel reached an agreement earlier this week on a four-day cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Under the deal, at least 50 hostages, mainly children and women, would be freed for the release of about 150 women and teen Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, according to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. ■