Time window for short-term cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war opens, but rocket alarms blare near Gaza

A pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas appeared to take effect Friday morning in Gaza, part of a four-day cease-fire deal that calls for Hamas to free at least 50 hostages and Israel to release dozens of Palestinians from its prisons. Just minutes after the short-term truce was scheduled to begin, Israel's military sounded alarms in several villages near Gaza warning of possible incoming rocket fire, but there was no immediate word of ongoing violence, leaving hope that the first hostage releases as part of the deal would still go forward later Friday.

The cease-fire had been set to start at 7 a.m. local time, which is midnight on the East Coast of the U.S. The Israeli military did not make any official announcement at that time, but a spokesperson stressed in a social media post 25 minutes earlier that the suspension of hostilities was temporary, and "the war is not over yet." 

Israeli Defense Forces Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee warned that the northern Gaza Strip remained "a dangerous war zone and it is forbidden to move around" there, adding that people in the decimated Palestinian territory "must remain in the humanitarian zone in the south of the Strip" and only move toward that area on one road, adding that "the movement of residents from the south of the Strip to the north will not be allowed in any way."