Protesters hold signs demanding the liberation of hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip after they were seized by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 21, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, to let in aid and release at least 50 hostages captured by terrorists in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

The first truce in a near seven-week-old war, reached after mediation by Qatar, was hailed around the world as a sign of progress that could ease the suffering of Gaza’s civilians and bring more Israeli hostages home. Israel said the ceasefire could be extended further, as long as more hostages were freed.

Hamas and allied terrorist groups captured around 240 hostages when gunmen rampaged through southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7. Previously, Hamas had released just four.

The official start time for the truce is expected to be announced within 24 hours, with the first hostages to go free on Thursday.

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children would be released over four days at a rate of at least 10 per day. Beyond that, the truce could be extended as long as an additional ten hostages were freed per day.

It made no mention of the release of Palestinian detainees, but Israel‘s justice ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who could be freed.

“Israel‘s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the government statement.

Hamas said the initial 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. Hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical, and fuel supplies would enter Gaza, while Israel would halt all air sorties over southern Gaza and maintain a daily six-hour daytime no-fly window in the north, it said.

Israel has waged a military campaign of air strikes and ground operations in Gaza targeting Hamas, the terror group that rules the Palestinian enclave. The campaign began after terrorists from Gaza led by Hamas invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7 and, during their onslaught across southern Israel, killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies.

Thousands of Gazans have been killed during Israel’s military response to incapacitate Hamas, according to figures from Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza.

Qatar’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, told Reuters the truce meant there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing.”

Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire. And that’s our intention,” he said.

Pending the start of the truce there was no let-up in fighting. As morning broke, smoke from explosions could be seen rising above northern Gaza in live Reuters video from across the fence.

Israel‘s military released footage of soldiers shooting in narrow alleyways and said it had carried out air strikes. Its “forces continue to operate within the [Gaza] Strip’s territory to destroy terrorist infrastructure, eliminate terrorists, and locate weaponry,” it said.

Both Israel and Hamas said that the truce would not halt their broader missions: “We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages, and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” Netanyahu said in a recorded message.

Hamas said in its statement: “As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look-out to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”

US President Joe Biden was among international leaders who welcomed the deal. Three Americans, including a 3-year-old girl whose parents were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, are expected to be among the hostages to be released, a senior US official said.

More than half the hostages hold foreign and dual citizenship from some 40 countries, Israel has said.

Implementing the deal must wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli media reported.

Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were about 85 women and 350 minors.

The terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which participated in the Oct. 7 massacre with Hamas and also operates out of Gaza, said late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the raid had died.