Hamas says agreed to four-day truce; Qatar says ceasefire subject to extension

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has announced a four-day truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip that will see the cessation of Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, warning that the hands of the resistance movement “remain on the trigger” should the occupying regime breach the deal.

In a statement released early on Wednesday, Hamas said the deal, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, will allow the entry of hundreds of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid trucks to Gaza.

During the four-day pause, it said, Israel will cease air traffic in southern Gaza and restrict them to six hours a day in the north.

Hamas earlier emphasized that any agreement is necessarily based on the conditions of the Palestinian resistance.

The deal will also see the release of 50 Israeli war prisoners in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children from the occupying entity’s jails.

The resistance group also noted that Israel will not attack or arrest anyone in Gaza or obstruct the movement of its residents along the Salah al-Din highway, the main road running north and south in the besieged enclave.

Hamas emphasized that the truce terms were formulated according to “the vision of the resistance and its determinants,” saying the movement managed the talks “from a position of steadfastness and strength in the field, despite the occupation’s attempts to prolong and procrastinate the negotiations.”

The ceasefire, hailed as a victory for Hamas, came on the 47th day of the war, with Israel having failed to reach its declared objective of destroying the resistance group.

In a vote early Wednesday morning, Israel’s cabinet approved the agreement on “a pause in the fighting.”

It further held out the potential for an extension, claiming that an extra day would be added for each additional 10 captives available for release.

An Israeli official also claimed the deal is expected to see the release of 50 Israelis in groups of 12-13 people per day.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced that its joint mediation efforts, alongside Egypt and the US, resulted in “an agreement for a humanitarian pause.”

“The starting time of the pause will be announced within the next 24 hours and last for four days, subject to extension,” it said in a statement, adding that the number of those released as part of the swap “will be increased in later stages of implementing the agreement.”

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed hopes that the truce deal will lead to comprehensive peace talks.

“We thank our partners for contributing to the truce agreement in Gaza, led by Egypt and Washington,” he said.

Israel waged the bloody war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in the occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s incessant crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed 14,128 Palestinians, including 5,840 children and 3,920 women, and injured at least 33,000 others.

It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.