A humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will extend by two days, mediator Qatar and Hamas have said, hours before an initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire.
“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
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Qatar, the United States and Egypt have engaged in intense negotiations to establish and prolong the truce in Gaza, which mediators had said was designed to be broadened and expanded.
Over the course of the initial truce a total 50 civilian hostages, women and children, were expected to be freed by Hamas.
In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were to be released and more humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.
According to Ghazi Hamad, from the Hamas political bureau, an extension of the four-day truce was always a possibility.
“It [the possibility of an extension] was written in the agreement, that if Hamas gives more hostages, there will be more days of the ceasefire,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We have now agreed to release more hostages and extend the agreement for two days. This is good news for our people, especially the people of Gaza.
“I hope we can extend it until we reach the end of this war. We want to end the war. We are in a temporary ceasefire but we are trying to extend it. There is lots of support from Qatar, Egypt and many Western governments to end this catastrophe,” he added.
During the first three days of the truce, 39 Israeli hostages were freed by the armed group in exchange for 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails as part of the deal between the two sides.
As a result of parallel negotiations led by the Gulf state, 17 Thais, one Filipino and one dual Russian-Israeli national have also been released by Hamas.
Hamas fighters seized around 240 hostages when they stormed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 and killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Afte the attack, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people, including more than 5,000 children, according to Palestinian officials.
Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said families across the occupied Palestinian territories were relieved by the extension.
“This is a source of relief for many families, not just the families of prisoners, but also other people in the occupied West Bank who are watching in horror images coming out of the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We are not just referring to the killings and children who’ve lost their lives, but also to the people who have been displaced, to the wounded, to the many hunger and in a very difficult situation.
“We are also talking about families of prisoners. So far we do not have a list,” she adding that according to a Hamas official, it will see the release of at least four more Palestinian prisoners.”
Hamas official says the group hopes to extend the truce even further and put an end to the Israel-Hamas war.
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