Hamas released a group of hostages held in Gaza as part of a truce agreement with Israel.
Israel’s Channel 12 and Hamas-run media said 13 hostages had been transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross and had crossed into Egypt. There were no immediate details.
They were among some 240 people captured when Hamas attacked Israel last month, triggering a devastating war. A four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect earlier Friday. Egypt said earlier 13 Israeli and 12 Thai nationals were set to be released in this first stage.
Under the deal, which came after weeks of complex and delicate talks brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt, Hamas is supposed to eventually return 50 women and children. Israel should release 150 jailed Palestinian women and youths.
All 200 in both groups are expected to be women and people under the age of 19. Israeli media has said 39 Palestinians will be let out of prison on Friday.
As the cease-fire came into effect, streets in the southern Gaza Strip — where Israel has urged civilians to evacuate to as its troops concentrate on the north — were filled with people emerging from shelters, some carrying belongings, footage on Al Jazeera showed. In the city of Khan Younis, cars crowded the streets and blared their horns.
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Israeli strikes from air, land and sea intensified ahead of the cease-fire, the United Nations said. There were “ground battles with Palestinian armed groups in the north and many casualties have been reported,” it said.
Shortly before the pause in hostilities, the Israeli army warned people in Gaza to stay in southern areas. In recent weeks hundreds of thousands have fled their homes in the north, which Israel says is Hamas’s “center of gravity.”
The start of the truce was delayed by a day as the sides held last-minute negotiations via Qatar following an initial agreement in the early hours of Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a very fragile few days,” Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said to Bloomberg Television on Friday. “We’re going to have to see how things develop, if both sides adhere to the agreement.”
The pause marks the first major lull in fighting since the conflict began on Oct. 7. That day, Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, attacked southern Israeli communities and army bases from Gaza, killing 1,200 people as well as taking the hostages.
Israel responded with a massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a densely-packed Mediterranean enclave with around 2.3 million inhabitants. It also launched a ground offensive on the northern part in late October. Almost 15,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that after the truce ends on Tuesday, Israel will carry on the war until Hamas is destroyed.
(Updates with background)
