Truce between Israel and Hamas officially begins

The four-day truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect early Thursday morning. Soon, as dawn broke in Israel, the first convoys of supplies, gas and fuel entered the Gaza Strip to comply with one of the conditions of the ceasefire. Later today, the first groups of Israeli hostages are also scheduled to be released.

The conditions of the truce are thus advancing at a good pace, despite an initial setback on Wednesday, when the start of the truce was postponed from Thursday to Friday due to details in the negotiation. Another incident was recorded Friday morning. According to several media outlets, air-raid sirens went off in several towns in southern Israel about 15 minutes after the truce went into effect, at 7 a.m. local time. Despite this, authorities did not provide more details, and the ceasefire continued.

The first group of hostages will be released around 4 p.m. local time, and it is estimated that they will be around 13 civilians. The list of those set to be released was sent to the Israeli government in the days leading up to the truce. In exchange for a total of 50 hostages who will be released from Gaza, Israel promised to release 150 Palestinian prisoners. These are individuals who had been convicted by the Israeli justice system, many of them on charges of terrorism. According to AFP, there are 49 Hamas members among them.

Palestinians cannot return to the north

The Israel Defense Forces have not abandoned the Gaza Strip. They will hold their positions, although they will not advance or carry out air attacks. Instead, the Israeli Air Force is dropping leaflets with messages intended for the Palestinian population. They are asking Gazan civilians not to return to their homes in the northern part of the strip, where the IDF ground offensive was concentrated.

"The war is not over yet. ... The northern Gaza Strip is a dangerous war zone and it is forbidden to move north," read the leaflets dropped all over Gaza, according to AFP. Local media reports indicate that groups of civilians intend to return to their homes despite warnings from the Israeli military.