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Middle East conflict

First group of Hamas hostages to be released at 2:00 p.m. GMT on Friday — Qatari MFA

According to Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari, the group will consist of 13 women and children

DUBAI, November 23. /TASS/. The first group of hostages held in Gaza by the Hamas movement will be released at 2:00 p.m. GMT on Friday, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said.

"The first group of civilian hostages will be handed over at about 4:00 p.m. local time tomorrow, on Friday," he announced at a press conference in Doha.

According to the diplomat, the group will consist of 13 women and children. "If there are members of the same family among the hostages, they will be released together as part of the first group," he specified.

The Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson noted that the parties to a humanitarian ceasefire agreement had already received the lists of people to be released. He also confirmed that the initial parameters of the agreement had not changed so the mediators expected 50 Israeli hostages to be freed in four days. The handover process will involve members of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, Al-Ansari did not specify how many Palestinian women and children would be released from Israeli prisons and when it would happen. He only said that Qatar expected them to be freed as part of the Israel-Hamas deal.

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.

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