RABAT, November 24. /TASS/. Exchange with Hamas is the only way for Israel to have its citizens freed, said Abu Ubayda, the spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

"The enemy’s decision to temporarily cease fire and hold a partial exchange [of captives] is what we had suggest before the start of the Zionist [Israeli] maneuvers on the ground. But the enemy rejected it, saying that it will achieve the result by military force. However, as we have said before and will say again, exchanges are the only way for the enemy to have its captives returned," the spokesman was quoted as saying on Hamas’ telegram channel.

The spokesman accused Israel of "committing mass murders and indiscriminate destruction" during its ground operation, adding that "numerous enemy soldiers were killed or injured on the battlefield." In his words, Israel is "concealing its true casualties."

The spokesman called upon Palestinians to "step up resistance to the occupation in all areas of the occupied West bank of the Jordan River, <…> to strike the enemy and chase it all over Palestine’s historic borders."

Hamas 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.

Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari announced earlier that the humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would begin at 5:00 a.m. GMT on Friday. The first group of hostages, which will consist of 13 women and children, is expected to be released at 2:00 p.m. GMT. Hamas, in turn, said that 200 trucks carrying aid would enter the Gaza Strip every day during the ceasefire.

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.