A few hours before the end of the fourth and final day of the ceasefire in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Israel and the radical Islamic group Hamas agreed to extend the truce for another two days, the government of Qatar, the country that mediated the negotiations together with Egypt and the United States.
“The ceasefire in force since Friday morning will be extended for two days,” said Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.
Shortly before, Egypt had already reported that a two-day extension of the truce was imminent and that it would include the daily release of 10 hostages in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
“Egyptian-Qatari efforts to extend the humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip are, so far, close to reaching an extension for another two days,” said the head of the State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, who acts as spokesperson of the government of Egypt.
The spokesperson also highlighted that, in addition to the exchange of hostages for prisoners, during the two days of prolonged truce the ceasefire will be maintained “across the entire Gaza Strip”, where the flight of Israeli fighter jets or drones will also not be allowed. .
Fourth day of truce amid uncertainty
Likewise, the entry of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid will also continue throughout the Palestinian enclave, according to Egypt’s note, which did not provide details on the established quantities.
A four-day truce came into force at 7am last Friday (local time, 2am Brasília time), which provided, in total, for the release of 50 hostages captured in Israel for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners and opened the door to a extension of up to ten days if Hamas continued to allow at least ten hostages to leave per day.
Both the Islamic group and the Israeli government publicly expressed their willingness to extend the agreement on Sunday.
Third group released
This Sunday, Hamas released the third group of hostages, 14 Israelis – nine minors, four women and one man – and three Thais. In the same way as the previous two days, the group was handed over to the International Red Cross. In return, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners.
A fourth exchange is scheduled for this Monday. According to the Egyptian government, this time 11 Israeli hostages must be released.
International mediators led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar worked to prolong the ceasefire.
“We can take all the hostages home. We have to keep pushing,” said two relatives of Abigail Edan, the four-year-old Israeli-American girl freed after being detained by Hamas since the brutal October 7 attack.
“That’s our goal, to keep this break going beyond tomorrow [segunda-feira]so that we can continue to see more hostages leaving and more humanitarian aid arriving for those in need in Gaza,” US President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
“I have a feeling that all parties in the region are looking for a way to end this, so that all the hostages are released,” Biden said.
Almost 40 Israeli hostages released
During the truce, Hamas had by this Monday released 39 Israeli hostages, while Israel had released 117 Palestinian prisoners, under the terms of the agreement. Another 19 foreign nationals were also released from Gaza under separate agreements.
Some hostages are believed to be held by militant groups other than Hamas, potentially complicating future releases.
md (AFP, EFE)