Israeli army completes deployment along lines of humanitarian pause in Gaza

By Abdelraouf Arna'out

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army has completed its deployment along the lines agreed as part of the humanitarian pause in Gaza, which came into effect early Friday morning, an Israeli government spokesman said.

In a briefed statement, Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli army “completed its operational preparations along the lines of the temporary pause in fighting with Hamas.”

The four-day humanitarian pause between the Israeli army and Hamas came into effect on Friday morning in all areas of the Gaza Strip, temporarily stopping attacks for prisoner exchange and aid.

The pause commenced at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT).

Also, Gendelman said that the Israeli army destroyed early on Friday before the humanitarian pause started what he said "the vast terror tunnel that was exposed in the area of the Al-Shifa Hospital."

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has soared to 14,854, the government media office in the blockaded enclave said Thursday.

The victims include 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, while more than 36,000 people have been injured, it added.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar