The truce in the Israel-Hamas war is expected to be extended into a fifth day, with both countries agreeing to take a fourth prisoner from the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons under the original four-day truce agreement. Having completed his release, mediation officials said the process would be as follows: Continue.
Qatar, which along with Egypt has facilitated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, said it had agreed to extend the original four-day ceasefire period by two days, which was set to expire on Monday.
Qatar’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Saif al-Thani, told reporters after a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on Monday that there was “an extension… for two more days” and that both sides would release more people. said it was necessary.
“This is a very positive step,” Al Thani said.
The Israeli government had not officially confirmed the ceasefire extension by early Tuesday morning, but Israeli military radio reported, citing the prime minister’s office, that it had received a new list of prisoners to be released later in the day. .
Israel announced it would extend the ceasefire by one day for every 10 additional prisoners Hamas releases.
Local news site Axios reported that the latest list includes the names of 10 Israeli prisoners. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
Israel announced on Monday that 11 Israelis had returned from the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of Israeli and foreign prisoners released by Hamas under the ceasefire since Friday to 69.
The Israeli Prisons Authority said Monday that 33 Palestinian prisoners were also released from Israel’s Ofer prison in the West Bank and a detention center in Jerusalem, bringing the total number of Palestinians released since Friday to 150.
Freed Palestinian prisoners were greeted with loud cheers as their Red Cross bus passed through the streets of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The original ceasefire agreement also allowed for an increase in aid trucks to reach Gaza, where civilians are facing shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the extension of the ceasefire as a “glimpse of hope and humanity” but said two more days would not be enough time to meet Gaza’s aid needs.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a report on Monday that the four-day cessation of fighting has left humanitarian organizations, particularly Red Crescent staff, in desperate need of people across Gaza, home to 1.8 million people. He said he was now able to provide support. People are becoming internally displaced.
More than 14,800 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its assault on the Palestinian enclave after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, including around 1 Includes 10,000 women and children.
Israel’s heavy bombing of the densely populated Gaza Strip has destroyed 46,000 homes and damaged more than 234,000, representing about 60 percent of Gaza’s entire housing stock, the United Nations reports. I mentioned it in my book.
Although the ceasefire appears to have been extended for two more days, Israel remains committed to suppressing Hamas militarily and has warned that the war in Gaza will resume.
The reopening will see Israeli forces expand their air, land and sea offensives from the devastated northern Gaza area to the southern enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge.
