Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza extended by two days

AFP , Ahram Online , Monday 27 Nov 2023

A humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas will extend by two days, mediator Qatar said Monday as an initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire.

Gaza
Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes on their homes in the village of Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on November 27, 2023. AFP

 

"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 foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas also announced that it has been agreed "with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary humanitarian truce for an additional two days under the same conditions as the previous truce."

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Monday the resistance group was drawing up a new list of captives for release "in order to extend the truce" with Israel.

Head of Egypt's State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan said that the new deal will involve the daily release of 10 captives held in Gaza in exchange for 30 Palestinians released daily from Israeli prisons.

The two-day extension will also allow more medical, food, and fuel aid into the strip, according to Rashawn.

As part of the truce deal, Hamas released as of Sunday dozens of Israeli captives in three batches in exchange for Palestinian political prisoners released by Israel. 

The International Red Cross received 11 Israelis from Gaza as part of the fourth batch of captive swap, Egyptian media outlets reported on Monday evening.

According to Al-Qahera News, an Egyptian security delegation left for the Rafah crossing with Gaza to receive the Israeli captives to hand them over to the Israeli side as per the agreed-upon deal.

Reports of a disagreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides preceded the handing over of the fourth batch of captives before Egypt and Qatar intervened.

Rashwan noted that Israel would release 33 Palestinians in return. The list of Palestinian detainees includes three women and 30 men under the age of 25, he added.

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