welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. i m max foster in london. qatar s foreign ministry says it will announce in the next few hours when the truce will begin. a diplomatic source says it is likely to start friday now midnight local time at the earliest. news comes after israel said wednesday that it expected release of hostages and pause in fighting were delayed. both u.s. and israeli officials pointed to logistical details for that delay. ahead of the expected truce, israeli forces continued ground and air operations striking parts of northeastern and central gaza. palestinians say areas further south were also hit. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu expressed confidence that the deal would go into effect. here is what a top white house official told cnn. we re not going into this with uberous or arrogance. we re grateful that we were able to get the deal secured. but it all now comes down to execution. so nobody is doing any testing here. there