The two parties declared on Thursday that a truce between Israel and Hamas will be prolonged for one day under the same conditions that saw hostages freed in exchange for prisoners.
Minutes before the cease-fire was about to expire at 0500 GMT, Israel’s military announced that it would be extended.
“In light of the mediators’ efforts to continue the process of releasing the hostages and subject to the terms of the framework, the operational pause will continue,” it said.
The prime minister’s office later acknowledged the prolongation, stating that a new list of captives had been received.
“A short time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and therefore the truce will continue,” it said, without specifying the number of captives to be freed.
Hamas said there was an agreement to “extend the truce for a seventh day,” without further details.
It had previously stated that Israel originally declined to extend the cease-fire despite offering to hand over seven hostages and the bodies of three more.
Qatar, which has sponsored truce talks backed by Egypt and the US, stated the pause had been extended for another day “under the same previous conditions.”
Blinken in Israel
The announcement came only hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Wednesday night, amid mounting pressure for the delay to be extended.
According to Israeli authorities, the peace agreement has temporarily halted violence that began on October 7 when Hamas militants surged across Gaza’s militarized border into Israel, killing 1,200 people, largely civilians, and capturing about 240.
In response, Israel pledged to destroy Hamas and launched an all-out air and ground combat operation that the Hamas leadership claims has killed almost 15,000 people in Gaza, largely civilians, and has reduced significant portions of the territory’s north to ruins.
The truce agreement provides for extensions if Hamas releases additional ten hostages per day, but both sides had warned that they were ready to resume violence.
Hamas’s armed wing told its fighters to “maintain high military readiness… in anticipation of a resumption of combat if it is not renewed,” according to a message posted on its Telegram channel.
In addition, Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman warned forces would “move into operational mode very quickly and continue with our targets in Gaza” if the cease-fire ended.
Ten more Israeli hostages were released under the terms of the agreement late Wednesday, with another four Thai captives and two Israeli-Russian women released outside the boundaries of the agreement.
Hamas released video of masked gunmen handing over hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Liat Beinin, who also has American citizenship and works as a guide at Israel’s Holocaust museum Yad Vashem, was among those released.
US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply gratified” by the release.
“This deal has delivered meaningful results,” he said of the truce.
‘Sustained humanitarian truce’
Shortly after the captives arrived in Israel, the country’s jail administration announced the release of 30 Palestinian detainees, including well-known campaigner Ahed Tamimi.
Since the cease-fire was declared on November 24, 70 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for 210 Palestinian inmates.
A handful of foreigners, mostly Thais living in Israel, have been released in violation of the agreement.
Israel has made it clear that it views the truce as a temporary halt aimed to liberate prisoners, but there are mounting calls for a longer-term cease-fire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a “true humanitarian ceasefire,” saying that Gaza is “in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe.”
In a position paper released Thursday, China’s senior diplomat, Wang Yi, who was in New York for UN Security Council deliberations on the bloodshed, advocated a “sustained humanitarian truce” immediately.
The hostage releases have brought elation tempered with sorrow, with families waiting each night to see if their loved ones will be released, and learning horrible details from those who return.
Abigail, four, was apprehended after crawling out from under her father’s body, which had been assassinated by militants and was covered in his blood, according to her great aunt Liz Hirsh Naftali.
“It’s a miracle,” she said of the little girl’s survival and release.
However, Israel’s army stated Wednesday that it was looking into a claim made by Hamas’s armed wing that a 10-month-old infant hostage, his four-year-old brother, and their mother were all murdered in an Israeli bombing in Gaza.
‘Everything is gone’
Prior to the truce, Israel hammered the Gaza Strip relentlessly, causing an estimated 1.7 million people — almost 80 percent of Gaza’s population — to flee their homes and restricting the entry of food, water, medication, and fuel.
According to the World Food Programme, conditions in the territory remain “catastrophic,” and the population faces a “high risk of famine.”
During the conflict, Israeli forces attacked numerous hospitals in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of utilizing them for military objectives, which the militants denied.
Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry, told AFP on Wednesday that physicians discovered five preterm newborns dead in Gaza City’s Al-Nasr hospital, which had been forced to close.
The cease-fire has allowed individuals who have been displaced to return to their homes, but for many, there is little left.
“I discovered that my house had been completely destroyed — 27 years of my life to build it and everything is gone,” said Taghrid al-Najjar, 46, after returning to her home in southeastern Gaza.
The violence in Gaza has also heightened tensions in the West Bank, where the Palestinian health ministry reports that almost 240 Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7.
This amount eclipses the total toll in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year, when 235 people perished, predominantly Palestinians, according to an AFP assessment.
The newest casualties in the occupied area were an eight-year-old kid and a teenager, with Israel claiming it “responded with live fire” after suspects threw explosive devices at troops.
A shooting in Jerusalem on Thursday killed two people and injured eight others before the suspects were “neutralised,” according to police.