Israel And Hamas Have Agreed To Extend The Four-Day Temporary Pause By Another Two Days
A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson announced the extension in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 27, hours before the initial four-day truce was set to expire.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend a four-day humanitarian pause in fighting by another two days, mediator Qatar said on Monday Nov. 27.
The two sides had begun the pause on Friday Nov. 24, on the condition that Hamas would release at least 50 Israeli women and children hostages, in return for Israel freeing 150 Palestinians, mostly women and children, it was holding in its prisons and allow aid to enter Gaza.
A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson announced the extension in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, hours before the initial four-day truce was set to expire.
Although Israel has yet to confirm the extension, Hamas said that it had agreed to a two-day extension “under the same terms”, according to AP.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had said for every additional 10 hostages Hamas releases, it will extend the ceasefire for a day.
Since the humanitarian pause began, Hamas has freed 69 hostages it took from Israel, including 51 Israelis and 18 foreign nationals, while Israel has freed 150 Palestinian women and children as of Monday.
Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas leader, told Al Jazeera that the group hopes the pause will continue to be extended.
He said that the group had agreed to release more hostages and extend the agreement, adding that it was “good news for our people, especially the people in Gaza”.
“I hope we can extend it until we reach the end of this war. We want to end the war,” he said.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the extension as a “glimmer of hope and humanity” but added that it was not enough time to meet aid needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera.
“Even with the additional amount of time, it will be impossible to satisfy all the dramatic needs of the population,” he said.
Since Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7 after the latter’s surprise attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis, it has subjected Gaza to relentless airstrikes and a ground offensive that has killed more than 14,800 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children.
