Israel-Hamas war live: four-day ceasefire and release of 50 hostages held in Gaza agreed | Israel-Hamas war

Emmanuel Macron has said he welcomes the Israel-Hamas hostage deal, and added that France is “working tirelessly to release all hostages”.

In a social media post, France’s president said “I welcome the announcement of an agreement for the release of hostages and a humanitarian truce. We are working tirelessly to release all hostages. The humanitarian truce announced should allow to introduce aid and rescue the civilians in Gaza.”

The funeral has been held in Beirut, Lebanon, for two journalists of Al Mayadeen, reporter Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih al Mamari. They were killed yesterday by an Israeli strike in the south of the country.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has produced the deadliest month for journalists since statistics began more than three decades ago. Before yesterday’s deaths, reporters’ watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had already recorded the deaths of 48 reporters since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

Palestine Red Crescent Society says it is evacuating patients from al-Shifa hospital

Israel’s military has posted to Telegram, saying: “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon. Among the targets struck were terrorist infrastructure and a military site in which Hezbollah terrorists operated.”

The claims have not been independently verified.

The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed a ceasefire agreement in Gaza as the “first good news for a long time” in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and said humanitarian pauses were the only way to build efforts for a sustainable settlement, Reuters reports.

In comments this morning, France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, has been critical of Israel, saying that there are too many civilian deaths and this is “unworthy of a democracy”.

Speaking on France Inter radio she said the Israel-Hamas deal was “a moment of real hope”, and hailed “particularly the work of Qatar” in clinching it after weeks of tortuous talks.

Colonna also said that Israel must do more to protect the civilian population in Gaza.

“There have been too many deaths, we have been saying this for weeks,” she said.

Civilians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank also needed to be protected better after about 200 people there had been killed by Israeli settlers, Colonna said.

“This is unacceptable and unworthy of a democracy,” AFP reports she said.

Eight French citizens have been missing since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel and for the moment, it is not known if all of them are being held hostage. “We have to distinguish between the cases that we are certain about and others,” Colonna said.

Among the hostages were a French adolescent boy, and also an adolescent girl for whom France had received proof of life by video, she said.

Meyer Habib, a French deputy whose constituency of French nationals abroad includes those in Israel, told Jewish community broadcaster Radio J on Wednesday that “one or two French people” were among the hostages to be released as part of the deal.

Oxfam GB’s head of policy and advocacy, Katy Chakrabortty, has described the Israel-Hamas deal as “a Band-Aid to a bleeding wound”, calling for the international community to “start the hard work towards peace for all Israelis and Palestinians”.

In a statement, she said:

It would be an optimism to see this as the beginnings of a road toward a permanent ceasefire – but that looks distant without concerted diplomatic pressure.

This pause of the relentless bombing and destruction that is causing such suffering to more than 2 million Palestinians is a welcome respite for the delivery of some humanitarian aid – but no more than that.

The next four days will be eaten up by a desperate emergency effort that can offer only very limited relief, not equal to the size of suffering and destruction and ultimately with no sustainability. This is a band-aid that will be ripped off a bleeding wound after four days.

The statement said that diplomatic efforts should include “tackling the core of the conflict: ending Israel’s prolonged military occupation of Palestinian territory and the blockade on Gaza while also securing the release of all hostages.”

The Associated Press reports from Dubai that the International Committee of the Red Cross says it is standing by to assist any swap in the Israel-Hamas war.

It quotes the organisation as saying: “Currently, we are actively engaged in talks with the parties to help carry out any humanitarian agreement they reach. As a neutral intermediary, it is important to clarify that we are not part of the negotiations, and we do not make decisions on the substance of it. Our role is to facilitate the implementation, once the parties agree.”

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has said that “nothing in the world can undo” the suffering of those who have been held hostage by Hamas, but that the Israel-Hamas deal was a “breakthrough”.

She added on social media that “the humanitarian break must be used to bring vital aid to the people in Gaza”.

Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.

Some more detail on the prisoners that Israel has listed for potential freedom. Although the deal appears to allow for 150 to be released, Israel’s government has named 300 people.

A BBC analysis of the list reports that “most are aged 17 or 18, with the overall age range 14-59. The majority of the detainees – 274 of 300 – are male.”

The offences they have been accused of include “attempted murder, throwing a bomb, creating an explosive or incendiary object, throwing stones, contact with a hostile organisation, grievous bodily harm and arson on nationalist grounds”.

The Times of Israel reports that the government has revealed more of the mechanism around release, with “the war cabinet of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant, and minister Benny Gantz to decide on the identity of prisoners to be released in each phase.”

It notes that “any Palestinian prisoners on the list who have not been released by the end of the exchanges will not be freed”.

That suggests an anxious period of waiting ahead for Palestinian and Israeli families to see which hostages and detainees are cleared for return. Hamas is thought to be holding about 240 Israelis abducted on 7 October.

Gaza hostage deal: what we know so far …