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Middle East conflict

Israel confirms plan to return 50 hostages from Gaza in 4 days

When the pause is over, Israel will resume its operation in the Gaza Strip with full force, the Israeli premier’s office said

TEL AVIV, November 22. /TASS/. During a special session held on Tuesday night, the Israeli government has approved a plan to return at least 50 Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip within four days before resuming its military operation in the enclave, the office of the Israeli premier said in a statement.

"The Israeli government is set to bring all hostages home. Tonight, the government approved the plan through which the first stage of this goal may be achieved. In accordance with it, at least 50 abducted persons - women and children - will be released within four days. During that period, there will be a pause in hostilities. The release of ten more hostages will extend the pause for one day," the statement says.

When the pause is over, Israel will resume its operation in the Gaza Strip with full force, the Israeli premier’s office said.

According to the state-run Kan Radio, the special governmental session lasted more than six hours.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

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Citizens of Poland, Germany, Italy apply for residence permit in Lugansk Republic

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