Israel and Hamas has entered a four-day ceasefire, with the Palestinian militants set to release a first group of hostages later in the day and increased aid to flow into the besieged Gaza Strip, the first pause in a nearly seven-week-old war.
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The truce was due to begin at 7am on Friday (4pm AEDT) and involve a comprehensive ceasefire in north and south Gaza, followed by the release of some of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas during the Iran-backed Islamists' October 7 attack inside Israel, mediators in Qatar said.
But fighting raged on in the hours leading up to the truce, with officials inside the Hamas-ruled enclave saying a hospital in Gaza City was among the targets bombed.
Both sides also signalled the pause would be temporary before fighting resumes.
Additional aid would start flowing into Gaza and the first hostages including elderly women would be freed at 4pm (1am on Saturday AEDT) , with the total number rising to 50 over the four days, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in Doha.
Egypt said 130,000 litres of diesel and four trucks of gas would be delivered daily to Gaza when the truce started, and that 200 trucks of aid would enter Gaza daily.
Palestinians were expected to be released from Israeli jails, the Qatari spokesman told reporters.
"We all hope that this truce will lead to a chance to start a wider work to achieve a permanent truce," he said.
Hamas confirmed on Telegram that all hostilities from its forces would cease.
But Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, later referred to "this temporary truce" in a video message that called for an "escalation of the confrontation with (Israel) on all resistance fronts", including the Israeli-occupied West Bank where violence has surged since the Gaza war erupted almost seven weeks ago.
Israel's military said its troops would stay behind a ceasefire line inside Gaza, without giving details of its position.
"These will be complicated days and nothing is certain," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
"Control over northern Gaza is the first step of a long war, and we are preparing for the next stages."
Israel had received an initial list of hostages to be freed and was in touch with families, the prime minister's office said.
Israel launched its devastating invasion of Gaza after gunmen from Hamas burst across the border fence on October 7, killing 1200 people and seizing about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel has rained bombs on the tiny enclave, killing some 14,000 Gazans, around 40 per cent of them children, according to Palestinian health authorities.
"People are exhausted and are losing hope in humanity," United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday after a visit to Gaza, referring to "unspeakable suffering" in the enclave.
"They need respite, they deserve to sleep without being anxious about whether they will make it through the night. This is the bare minimum anyone should be able to have."
Ahead of the ceasefire, fighting continued at even greater than normal intensity on Thursday, with Israeli jets hitting more than 300 targets and troops engaged in heavy fighting around Jabalia refugee camp north of Gaza City.
The Indonesian hospital in Gaza City was reeling under relentless bombing, operating without light and filled with bedridden old people and children, Gaza health officials said.
International alarm has focused on the fate of hospitals, especially in Gaza's northern half, where all medical facilities have ceased functioning with patients, staff and displaced people trapped inside.
Israel says Hamas fighters use residential and other civilian buildings, including hospitals, as cover - a charge that Hamas denies.
Australian Associated Press
