Gaza humanitarian pause to start Friday, says Qatar

ISTANBUL

A humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip will start at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT) on Friday, Qatar announced Thursday.

“The first group of civilian hostages will be swapped at around 4 p.m. on Friday,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference in Doha.

He said 50 hostages will be released in four days.

​​​​​​​“The first group of hostages will include 13 women and children,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced that an agreement on a four-day humanitarian pause was achieved between Israel and Hamas.