Israel agrees to extend truce with Hamas by 2 days amid hostage negotiation efforts

Israel has agreed to extend its truce agreement with Hamas by two days, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

Israel will pause its counteroffensive efforts in the Gaza Strip by two days in exchange for the release of more hostages currently held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Dr. Majed Al Ansari. Hamas released four hostages in October and released 58 more hostages as of Monday which was part of a deal struck between Israel and Hamas on Friday mediated by Qatar, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“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,” Al Ansari said on Monday.

As part of the agreement, Israel has paused its counteroffensive efforts and released a number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel has agreed to extend the truce by one day for every 10 hostages released, according to the WSJ.

There are still over 180 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the WSJ. They include Israeli citizens as well as foreign nationals and American citizens. Qatar has acted as a mediator between Hamas and Israel on the current truce and on previous hostage releases from the terror group that killed over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.

Though it has agreed to a temporary truce, Israel warned that it will not initiate a permanent ceasefire until Hamas is eradicated completely, Israeli official Eylon Levy said on Monday.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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