Qatar, Hamas announce extension of Gaza truce by two days

Gaza Strip: Hours before the first four-day truce in Gaza was about to expire, mediator Qatar and Hamas announced that the humanitarian pause in the war between Israel and Hamas would be extended by two days.

“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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

Intense talks have been held by Qatar, the US, and Egypt to establish and maintain the Gaza truce, which the mediators had stated was intended to be extended.

It was anticipated that Hamas would release fifty civilian prisoners—all of them women and children—during the first truce.

In return, Israel agreed to free 150 Palestinian prisoners and permit more humanitarian supplies into Gaza.

Hamas official Ghazi Hamad expressed his hope that the truce may be extended.

“It [the possibility of an extension] was written in the agreement, that if Hamas gives more hostages, there will be more days of the ceasefire,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have now agreed to release more hostages and extend the agreement for two days. This is good news for our people, especially the people of Gaza.

“I hope we can extend it until we reach the end of this war. We want to end the war. We are in a temporary ceasefire, but we are trying to extend it. There is lots of support from Qatar, Egypt and many Western governments to end this catastrophe,” he said.

Hamas freed 39 Israeli prisoners within the first three days of the truce in return for 117 Palestinian inmates detained in Israeli jails.

Parallel talks spearheaded by Qatar also resulted in the release of 17 Thai nationals, 1 Filipino, and 1 dual Israeli-Russian national by Hamas.

According to Israeli sources, on October 7, Hamas fighters stormed from Gaza into southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and taking about 240 captives.

Following that Israel carried out a ceaseless bombing campaign and a ground offensive in Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people—including over 6,000 children, Palestinian officials said

Families throughout the occupied Palestinian territories would be relieved by the extension, according to Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim, who was reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

“This is a source of relief for many families, not just the families of prisoners, but also other people in the occupied West Bank who are watching in horror images coming out of the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We are not just referring to the killings and children who’ve lost their lives but also to the people who have been displaced, to the wounded, to the many hungry and in a very difficult situation.”