The truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has been extended by two additional days, announced Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry on X. CNN has contacted the Israeli government for their response.
Following a call with the prime minister of Qatar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the extension of the four-day truce, which was originally brokered with the help of Qatar. Earlier, Egypt had indicated efforts to further extend the ceasefire by an additional two days.
An Israeli helicopter carrying hostages released from the Gaza Strip lands at the helipad of the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel, as a group of onlookers watch on Sunday, November 26, 2023. The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was reaffirmed as the militants released 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis and the first American, in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners as part of a third set of releases under a four-day truce. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Leo Correa/AP
Israeli women and children have been freed by Hamas. But families of other hostages are in limbo
The four-day ceasefire in Gaza, scheduled to conclude on Tuesday, represented a significant diplomatic achievement in the conflict. This brought a temporary relief for Palestinians in the besieged enclave and facilitated the release of 40 Israeli hostages.
Hamas announced its agreement with Qatar and Egypt to prolong the ceasefire for an extra two days "under the same conditions previously reached."
Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN's Dana Bash that a two-day extension has been agreed upon, but will only take effect once the hostages scheduled for release on Monday are freed. According to Regev, Hamas has agreed to release 10 hostages each day as part of the agreement.
Regev stated that for every 10 hostages released, they would be willing to grant an extension of another day. He also added that if Hamas were to release the Israeli hostages as agreed, they would extend the deadline. Regev expressed his belief that the hostages to be released over the next two days would be women and children.
Regev mentioned that there are still a significant number of women and children in Gaza being held by Hamas for the next 20. He also acknowledged the role of US President Joe Biden in facilitating the terms of the agreement.
"We are grateful for President Biden's assistance in negotiating these arrangements and for dedicating his efforts and resources to this cause. Without his input, I doubt we would have been able to reach this deal," he commented. The initial agreement to secure the release of 50 women and children hostages included the potential for an extension of the ceasefire if Hamas was able to produce more hostages, as previously reported by CNN.
Israeli and US officials suspected that there were actually more women and children being held captive, but they agreed to the terms of the deal because Hamas insisted on using the ceasefire to gather more hostages.
UPDATE: The previous version of the story incorrectly stated that the prime minister of Qatar had a call with President Biden. This has now been corrected.
