A four-day truce in the war between Israel and Hamas has come into force.

A timeframe has also been set for the release of some hostages seized by Hamas on October 7th.

The temporary truce agreed with Hamas will see 50 hostages released from Gaza, with the first 13 women and children freed sometime this afternoon.

Israel will free 150 Palestinian prisoners in return.

It’s still unclear if Emily Hand will be among those freed under the deal.

The nine-year-old’s family yesterday said they did not believe she was on the list of people to be released today.

It is thought that Emily has been held captive by Hamas in Gaza since early October.

Release Time

Hamas Political Bureau official Dr Basem Naim told Newstalk Breakfast he expects the first hostages will be released before 4pm Irish time at the latest.

“It’s a very complicated situation on the ground, after nearly 50 days of constant bombardment everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

“A lot of people know that the hostages are in different places with different groups.

“I think today before 4pm local time, all the hostages on both sides, our women and children in jails, and the 13 civilians will be released.”

He added that he expects hostages will be released "one or two hours" before 4 pm.

Emily Hand

The former Palestine Minister for Health said he is unsure of any details in relation to Emily Hand.

“The information I have is that all citizens in Gaza have double citizenship, he said.

“Regarding Emily, I have no concrete information. I know that during these four days [of ceasefire] all of the civilians, which is around 50 women and children, will be released.”

Dr Naim said he could not confirm Emily was alive, but that a number of hostages had died due to strikes.

“60 of the total number of hostages have been killed by Israeli bombardment, with our families, and a lot of them are still under the rubble,” he said.

The Hamas official said he believes a two-state solution would bring peace between Israel and Palestine.