Tuesday 14 / January / 2025
Gaza: Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend a temporary truce by another day minutes before it was set to expire, Israel and mediator Qatar have confirmed.
"The operational pause will continue in light of the mediators' efforts to continue the process of releasing the hostages and subject to the terms of the framework," the Israeli military said on social media.
Qatar and Israel said the truce would continue under the existing framework where Hamas released 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for Israel releasing 30 Palestinian prisoners.
"Palestinian and Israeli sides have reached an agreement to extend the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip for an additional day under the existing conditions, which are a cessation of all military activities and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza," Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said.
The truce was set to expire Thursday morning.
Negotiations on extending it came down to the wire, reportedly with last-minute disagreements over the hostages to be freed by Hamas in exchange for another day of a halt in fighting.
Wednesday's developments
On Wednesday, Hamas handed over 16 hostages while Israel released another 30 Palestinian prisoners, in the sixth exchange under a temporary truce deal.
Since the pause in fighting began last Friday, Hamas has released 97 hostages, mostly Israeli nationals, while Israel has freed 210 Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel to push for further extensions of the truce.
Qatar has been trying in its capacity as mediator to secure another extension to the truce that began last Friday.
