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Israel will release 39 prisoners in exchange for 13 hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas, a Palestinian official has said, amid a temporary truce to allow for the swap.

The inmates, all from the occupied West Bank or Jerusalem and including 24 women and 15 teenage males, will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross from a military jail at around 2pm UK time, according to the authorities.

This will coincide with the planned handover at the Gaza-Egypt border of 13 women and children who were among some 240 people kidnapped by militant gunmen during the deadly 7 October rampage in southern Israel, which sparked the latest devastating conflict.

Israel-Gaza latest – follow live

Israel Defence Forces said it had completed preparations for receiving the freed hostages “and give them all the necessary support”.

It added: “After the initial reception and medical treatment, the released hostages will continue to hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families.”

Other key developments:

  • Israel says ceasefire could be extended
  • Aid begins to enter the besieged enclave
  • Palestinians are told not to return to northern Gaza
  • Both sides warn the war is not over

The release is part of a Israeli-Hamas truce that began at 5am UK time and appeared to be holding despite both sides accusing each other of sporadic violations.

Israeli tanks have moved away from the northern end of Gaza while there was an absence of hostile activity in the air from warplanes or rockets.

The start of the four-day ceasefire has also allowed aid to start to flow into the besieged enclave, which has been gripped by a humanitarian crisis following weeks of Israeli bombardment, with fuel and medical supplies cut off.

Israel says the truce could be extended beyond the initial four days if Hamas continues to release hostages at a
rate of at least 10 per day.

A Palestinian source has said the total released could reach 100.

Pic: IDF
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Preparations have been made to receive the hostages. Pic: IDF

Pic: IDF
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Pic: IDF

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has warned hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge in southern Gaza not to attempt to return to their homes in the northern half of the territory, which has been the focus of the ground offensive against Hamas, describing it as a “dangerous war zone”.

Read more:
Hostage-for-prisoner swap and truce in Gaza
Israel has questions to answer after WHO’s report
Hamas claims ‘at least 50 killed’ in attack on school

Sofian Abu Amer, from Gaza City, said: “We are returning to our homes to see and check our conditions there and how our homes are.

“We want to bring clothes and what we need.

“There is no cooking gas, food, or drink. The situation is very tragic.”

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter Gaza Strip from Egypt in Rafah as a temporary ceasefire went into effect Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
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The truce has enabled aid to enter Gaza. Pic: AP

But Arabic-language leaflets dropped over southern Gaza on Friday said that “the war has not ended yet” and people should remain in place.

“Returning to the north is prohibited and very dangerous,” the leaflets said.

“Your fate and the fate of your families is in your hands. We have warned you.”

An Israeli soldier gestures from a military vehicle while driving by Israel's border after leaving Gaza during the temporary truce between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel, in Israel, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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IDF troops leaving Gaza

Despite the cessation in hostilities both sides have warned the war was far from over.

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, has stressed it was a “temporary truce”.

In a video message, he called for an “escalation of the confrontation with (Israel) on all resistance fronts”, including
the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

As a ceasefire begins, Israel and Gaza holds its breath

At 7am in Israel and Gaza, the long-awaited temporary ceasefire came into effect.

In the minutes leading up to it, large clouds of black smoke could be seen rising from Gaza as the IDF carried out large airstrikes before the truce.

Unlike with previous ceasefires between the two sides, there wasn’t a large barrage of rocket fire from Gaza, perhaps indicating the extent to which Hamas’s rocket capability has been degraded.

Air raid sirens did sound along the Gaza border at 0715 but it’s unclear whether that was a violation of the agreement or a false alarm.

All being well, the first hostages will be released at 4pm this afternoon – 13 women and children. Their relatives have been informed.

A further group will be released tomorrow and on the subsequent days, if the pause holds.

At the same time, Israel will start releasing some of the 150 Palestinians they’ve agreed to free.

And this is a chance to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza – some 200 trucks a day are expected, along with fuel.

Israeli forces have stayed in position in northern Gaza but all Israeli flights over southern Gaza will have to stop, as they will in northern Gaza for six hours a day.

The truce is extremely fragile and with Hamas as fragmented as it now is, the chances of it being broken are high.

But as the sun rises on this Friday morning, people in Israel, and Gaza, hold their breath.

The Israeli military also said fighting would resume shortly.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said: “This will be a short pause, at the conclusion of which the war (and) fighting will continue with great might and will generate pressure for the return of more hostages.”

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Netanyahu: ‘The war continues’

The truce deal was reached after weeks of intense indirect negotiations, with Qatar, the US, and Egypt serving as mediators.

If it holds, it would mark the first significant break in fighting since Israel declared war on Hamas seven weeks ago.

Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza after insurgents stormed across the border fence on 7 October – killing 1,200 people and seizing about 240 hostages.

Israel’s retaliation against the Hamas-ruled territory has killed some 14,000 Gazans, around 40% of them children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes to escape the violence as conditions grew ever more desperate, with food, drinking water, fuel and other basic supplies running short.

It is the bloodiest episode in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel’s stated aim is to remove Hamas once and for all.

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs - in worst day for indexes since COVID

Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.

While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.

As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years

All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.

The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.

Read more: What’s a bear market?

Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.

More on Donald Trump

Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.

The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.

And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.

Pic: Reuters
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US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters

Trump holds trade deal talks – reports

It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.

The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.

Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.

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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?

Read more:
Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow

China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.

Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.

Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.

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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’

“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

More on Donald Trump

He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

Read more:
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
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Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

Read more from Sky News:
Highs and lows of Five-Year Keir
MP tells Sky News she was targeted online by Tate brothers

More on South Korea

The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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