Detailed details of the agreement between Hamas and Israel have not yet been released.
Special items
- The ceasefire was extended minutes before the end of the ceasefire
- The ceasefire will continue under the terms of the hostage release process.
- Israel was given a list of women and children according to the conditions
Jerusalem:
A truce between Israel and Hamas was extended before its deadline expired on Thursday. Both parties announced this. Qatar, which is mediating, said the exchange of prisoners would continue for one day as before. Minutes before the truce was due to expire at 5pm (GMT), the Israeli military said the truce would hold.
Also read
“The moratorium will continue under the terms of the framework and efforts by mediators to continue the process of releasing the hostages,” the army said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office later confirmed the expansion, saying it had received a new list of hostages.
“Some time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children according to the terms of the agreement, and so the ceasefire will continue,” he said, without specifying the number of prisoners to be released.
Hamas said the agreement was to “extend the ceasefire for a seventeenth day”, without giving further details.
He said earlier that Israel had initially refused to extend the ceasefire after offering to hand over the seven hostages and the bodies of three others.
Qatar leads ceasefire talks backed by Egypt and the US. He confirmed that the pause had been extended by one day “under the same previous conditions”.
Blinken in Israel
The announcement comes hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Wednesday night amid growing pressure to extend the ceasefire.
According to Israeli officials, the cease-fire agreement brings a temporary halt to the conflict that began on October 7 when Hamas militants crossed the military border into Gaza and entered Israel. The attacks killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Apart from this, around 240 people were abducted.