DUBAI, November 23. /TASS/. A humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas will begin at 5:00 a.m. GMT on Friday, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari announced.

"A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 7:00 a.m. local time tomorrow, on Friday," he said at a Doha press conference broadcast on the Al Jazeera TV channel.

The diplomat pointed out that an agreement made by the parties to the conflict provided for a full ceasefire across the entire Gaza Strip, which would last four days. "Any resumption of military activities will be regarded as a violation of the agreement," he added. "We hope that the humanitarian truce will pave the way for broader efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire and lasting peace" the diplomat said.

According to him, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt will begin right after the ceasefire takes effect. Qatar expects that "as much aid as possible will be brought" to Gaza.

The Hamas movement announced on November 22 that an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had been reached through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. The movement confirmed that the agreement stipulated the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 who are held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel's National Security Council, said that the release of hostages held in Gaza was unlikely to begin before November 24.