A four-day ceasefire in Gaza is set to begin at 7am (5am GMT) today with 13 Israeli hostages to be released in exchange for prisoners. 

Qatar, which mediated the talks, confirmed on Thursday that last-minute hurdles to the deal had been rectified paving the way for a pause in fighting to come into effect on Friday morning.

A group of 13 hostages, expected to consist of children and their mothers, are set to be freed at about 4pm local time on Friday.

Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry, said on Thursday he expected there would be no further delays to the release of captives: “We are hopeful that by 7am tomorrow everything will stop and we’ll have the beginning of the humanitarian pause.”

He confirmed additional aid for Palestinians will start to enter Gaza “as soon as possible”.

Follow the latest updates below