Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the ceasefire-for-hostages agreement by two days, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday evening.
“The State of Qatar announces, 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,” Majed Al Ansari said.
There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.
The announcement came shortly after a top aide to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that they were close to forging a deal.
The two-day extension would include the release of 20 Israeli hostages, said Diaa Rashwan, head of Cairo’s State Information Service, according to Reuters. In return, Israel would release 60 Palestinian terrorists.
Jerusalem is not publicly discussing whether the four-day ceasefire with Hamas will be extended or if not, when it will officially end, the Prime Minister’s Office told JNS earlier on Monday evening.
“This information isn’t being released yet,” the PMO stated in a response.
Earlier on Monday, The Wall Street Journal cited Egyptian and Qatari mediators as saying they expect the agreement to be extended by at least another day as they continue to negotiate for a longer pause.
Hamas wants the cease-fire to be extended by four days in exchange for additional hostages, but Jerusalem prefers a day-by-day extension, the newspaper reported, citing officials familiar with the negotiations.
On the first three days of the four-day ceasefire that began on Friday morning, Hamas freed 39 Israeli civilians, all women and children, under the agreement. The terrorist group also released an “extra” Israeli hostage on Sunday, a man with dual Russian citizenship, in a gesture to President Vladimir Putin.
Hamas also released 19 foreign nationals as part of a side deal with Thailand.
In addition to temporarily pausing its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Israel has released 117 female and teenage Palestinian security prisoners.
Hamas kidnapped some 240 people during its Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, during which thousands of heavily armed gunmen murdered 1,200 people and wounded over 5,000 others.
In a statement on Sunday, the Gaza-based terrorist organization said that it was seeking to extend the truce beyond the four-day period if Israel would make a “serious effort” to increase the number of Palestinian terrorists released from prison. JNS
The secular state of Israel is at its weakest point ever.