The humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will be extended by two days, mediator Qatar said on Monday late afternoon, as the initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire. More hostages are set to be released during this period.
"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 social media.
Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs @majedalansari : Efforts are continuing to extend the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/quQqzvG6Oq
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) November 27, 2023
Hamas also said it had agreed a two-day extension to the truce.
"An agreement has been reached with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary humanitarian truce by two more days, with the same conditions as in the previous truce," a Hamas official said in a phone call with Reuters.
The initial truce was originally scheduled to end on Monday night.
Diplomatic progress
Over the course of the humanitarian pause and in weeks prior, Qatar, with the support of the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in intense negotiations to establish and prolong the truce in Gaza, which mediators had said was designed to be broadened and expanded.
The initial truce was supposed to lead to the liberation of a total 50 civilian hostages, women and children, expected to be freed by Hamas.
In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were to be released and humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.
During its first three days, 39 Israeli hostages were freed by the militant 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 the Palestinian militants.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday evening that Hamas had committed to releasing another 20 women and children over the next two days.
The figure set for release is by far the largest since Hamas gunmen stormed across Gaza's militarised border on 7 October and staged the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
Israel says the attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 240 more were taken hostage, among them elderly people and children.
In response, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Immense damages and lack of aid
The Hamas government says 15,000 people have consequently been killed in Gaza, thousands of them children.
Wide areas of the Hamas-ruled enclave have also been flattened by Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments, and a humanitarian crisis has unfolded as supplies of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine have run out.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said on Monday that its crews have delivered approximately 150 aid trucks to Gaza City and its northern region since but progress is slow.
The Palestine Red Crescent teams are currently delivering around 40 trucks filled with aid into #Gaza City and the northern areas through the checkpoint that separates the northern and southern parts of the Strip.#HumantarianAid#Humantarians pic.twitter.com/xdghPvhILI
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 27, 2023
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, pushed in a statement on Monday for a full humanitarian ceasefire instead of a temporary truce, which Israel has so far resisted.
The White House welcomed the agreement to extend the truce on Monday."We would of course hope to see the pause extended further, and that will depend upon Hamas continuing to release hostages," Kirby said
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for the pause to be prolonged "to make it sustainable and long lasting while working for a political solution."
"Nothing can justify the indiscriminate brutality Hamas unleashed against civilians," he said. "But one horror cannot justify another horror."
(with newswires)
