The truce agreement between Israel and Hamas will not come into effect until Friday, Israeli officials announced last night. After the green light from the Israeli government and the Hamas agreement, Qatar announced on Wednesday the “success” of its mediation for a renewable four-day truce in the fighting, coupled with an exchange of hostages and prisoners. Media and officials had said the truce would come into effect, with a Hamas official saying he expected “an initial exchange of 10 hostages for 30 prisoners” that day.
But the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, declared during the night that the release of the hostages will not take place “before Friday” and that the negotiations “continue incessantly”, without commenting on the latest negotiations in course.
Consequently, there will be “no pause” in the fighting on Thursday, an Israeli official immediately told AFP. During the night, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Israeli strikes causing “dozens” of deaths in different sectors of the Gaza Strip.