long-awaited hostage release could be just a few hours away. the expected truce with hamas appears to be on track at this hour, setting the stage for 13 captives to return from gaza on the first day of the temporary pause in the hostilities. oren liebermann has all of the late-breaking developments for us. reporter: after nearly seven weeks of war, it is the storm before the calm. final hours of fighting in gaza ticking down until a pause in the conflict set for early friday morning. 13 hostages, women and children, will then be freed by hamas on friday afternoon, transferred to the red cross and back to israel. we are waiting on a day-by-day base for a phone call to see if our loved ones are coming back. reporter: the pause is set to last four days. the spokesperson for qatar s foreign ministry hope that the deal would be the basis for a longer pause. we are hoping that this will work as a proof of concept for de-escalation measures including extending this humanitar