Mediator Qatar said on Monday that a truce between Israeli forces and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a lull in the seven-week war that has killed thousands and devastated the Palestinian enclave.

“An agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian pause for another two days in the Gaza Strip,” a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a message posted on the social network X. Hamas also said it had agreed to an extension of two days.

Israel had no immediate comment, but a White House spokesman confirmed an agreement had been reached.

US President Joe Biden thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Qatar and Egypt, which facilitated indirect negotiations between both sides, for reaching an agreement that will allow the release of more hostages from Gaza and more. help reaches the territory.

The Israeli military later said the Red Cross had confirmed that the 11 hostages – the last to be released under the terms of the initial truce, which was due to end Monday evening – were on their way to Israeli territory. Among them were three Frenchmen. By nationality, two are German and six are Argentinean, according to Qatar.

Hamas previously said it had received a list of 33 Palestinians who would be released from Israeli prisons in exchange. Among them are three women and 30 minors.

US Department of Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby told CNN that the White House does not believe there were any Americans among the latest group released from Gaza, where Washington says seven to nine US citizens are being held.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

Neither announcement indicated how many hostages would be released under the expanded agreement, but Egypt’s State Information Service head Diaa Rashwan previously said the deal being negotiated would include the release of 20 Israelis among those captured by Hamas in October . 7 attack on southern Israel.

In exchange, 60 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons would be released, he added.

The truce reached last week marked the first break in fighting in seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli estimates.

In response to this attack, Israel bombed the enclave and launched a ground offensive in the north. More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.

Large areas of the region have been devastated by Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling, and a humanitarian crisis has erupted as supplies of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine have dwindled.

“We will return in full force to achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas; to ensure that Gaza does not return to what it was; and, of course, the release of all our hostages,” Netanyahu said over the weekend about Israel’s role after the end of the truce.

SHORT ANSWER

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the extension of the truce, which also allowed aid trucks to enter Gaza, “a glimmer of hope and humanity,” but warned that two more days would not be enough to meet Gaza aid. needs.

“I firmly hope that this will allow us to further increase humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Gaza, knowing that even with this additional time it will be impossible to meet all the urgent needs of the population,” Guterres told reporters.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have previously said they are praying for an extension to the truce. Some visited houses reduced to rubble by weeks of intense Israeli bombing, while others queued for flour and other essential aid delivered by the UN aid agency UNRWA.

Um Mohammed, a displaced Palestinian woman, said life was difficult for people still living in the north of the enclave, which is still bearing the brunt of Israel’s ground invasion.

“People are there looking for food. People want to live, to insure themselves for the coming days, because they are afraid, so they insure themselves as much as they can,” he explained. “And if you ask if they are calm or peaceful, they are not.”

Reuters.