On March 5, local time, Spain's ** Efe news agency, citing Palestinian and Egyptian sources, reported that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the "basic points" of a new agreement on a truce and exchange of hostages.
According to the report, so far, Israel and Kazakhstan have reached an agreement that there will be a truce for 40 days. During this period, Hamas will release 40 Israeli hostages, including women, children and men over the age of 60, in exchange for 404 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Last December, after Israel warned of intensified military operations, Palestinians from various refugee camps moved to Rafah city.
Prior to the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army continued its offensive on the western flank of Khan Younis, a major city in the southern Gaza Strip, on 5 March. "Over the past day, forces have detained dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad*** who are hiding among civilians and trying to flee the area," the Israeli army said in a statement. The Israeli army said about 20 Hamas fighters had been killed by "snipers, tanks and drones" in the centre of the Gaza Strip in the past few hours.
On the same day, at least 34 civilians were killed in airstrikes on homes in Khan Younis, a city north and south of Gaza City, according to medical staff at the Shifa Medical Centre and the European Hospital in Gaza. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, the total death toll in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7 last year has reached 30,631, with 72,043 injured and 97 Gazans killed in the past few hours.
The entrance to the Hamas tunnel, discovered by Israel near the Gaza border last December.
Earlier, on February 23, talks on a ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Kazakhstan resumed in Paris, attended by representatives of Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States. In particular, the parties discussed the release of 40 hostages held by Hamas in the first phase in exchange for 200-300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
Editor: The Old Man and the Sea).