The “humanitarian pause” in the Israel-Gaza confrontation, which was set to finish on Monday night, has been extended by an additional 48 hours, as per the announcement from Qatar’s foreign ministry, which served as the mediator.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Majid al-Ansari said on X (previously Twitter) that “the State of Qatar announces, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian pause for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip.”
Not long after, Hamas declared in a statement that the truce had been extended and that Qatar and Egypt had mediated.
A member of the political council of the group named Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera, “I hope we can extend until we reach the end of this war and aggression on our people in Gaza.”
Israel hasn’t yet responded to the extension. But AJ was informed by a White House official that West Jerusalem had approved it. The state-funded publication from Qatar claims that the approval of the extension was contingent upon the release of 20 additional Israelis who had been held captive by Hamas since October 7.
Additionally, Qatar declared that it would be delivering five more cargo aircraft to the Egyptian city of El-Arish, with 156 tonnes of humanitarian assistance intended for Gaza.
Following the surprise attack that killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis and resulted in roughly 240 being carried prisoner to Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas.
Before deploying ground forces into the enclave, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bombarded Gaza for weeks. Local authorities claim that during the conflict, over 16,000 Palestinians have lost their lives.
As international pressure on Israel increased last week, a “humanitarian pause” was organised. Since then, 39 Israeli hostages have been freed by Hamas, along with another twenty-six captives under a different agreement. Israel has freed 117 Palestinian prisoners.
But when the ceasefire ends, Netanyahu and his administration have promised to return to the battlefield “with full military power.”
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared last week, “We will not stop until we achieve our goals: the destruction of Hamas and bringing the hostages from Gaza home to Israel.”
