(AFP) — A four-day cease-fire began in Gaza on Friday, almost seven weeks after an unprecedented Hamas attack sparked an air and ground offensive by Israel, which has vowed to destroy the Palestinian militants.
In Gaza nearly 15,000 people, 6,150 of them children, have been killed in the war, officials in the Hamas-run territory said.
About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack and around 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
Here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:
Truce begins
The four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war took effect at 7:00 a.m. local time (12 a.m. EST) on Friday, and appeared to be holding, under a deal that will see hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The truce, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, brought the first pause in the war since it began.
The agreement entailed a "complete cease-fire with no attacks from the air or the ground" and the skies clear of drones to "allow for the hostage release to happen in a safe environment," the Qatari foreign ministry said.
Over the four days of the cease-fire, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.
In exchange, 150 Palestinians prisoners are expected to be released.
The agreement is also intended to provide additional aid to 2.4 million residents who face shortages of essential goods after Israel tightened a siege of the territory.
Around 50 trucks with food aid, along with three fuel trucks and four with gas, entered on Friday morning, said Wael Abu Omar, director of communications on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing point with Egypt.
Hostages await release
Under the truce deal, 13 women and children held hostage in Gaza are due to be freed at 4:00 p.m. local time, followed by a number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had received "a first list of names" of those due to be freed and been in contact with the families. It did not specify who was on the list.
Gazans head home
Thousands of people who had fled to areas near Gaza's border with Egypt were preparing to return to their villages as the cease-fire took effect.
However, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over the south of the Gaza Strip 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!!!"
Quiet on Lebanon border
Calm returned to Lebanon's southern border as the truce took effect in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to state media, residents and an AFP journalist.
Since the war began, the area has witnessed deadly exchanges of fire, primarily involving the Israeli army and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, as well as Palestinian militant groups.
There was a "precarious calm" along the border shortly after the cease-fire began, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported.
Sirens near Gaza
Around 15 minutes after the truce began, sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in several communities along Israel's border with Gaza, the Israeli military said, without providing further details.
About two hours into the pause, dark plumes of smoke could still be seen rising over northern Gaza, an AFPTV livecam showed.
An Israeli strike on a United Nations school in Gaza sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians killed at least 27 people and injured 93 more on Thursday, a Palestinian doctor in the Jabalia refugee camp said.
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by Agence France-Presse
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