Israel and Hamas agreed to extend for 48-hour the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, Qatar informed on Monday (27). The gas-rich country and Egypt are mediating negotiations between the parties involved in the conflict.
The extension of the pause foresees that more hostages held by Hamas will be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The agreement is that, for every ten additional hostages released by Hamas, Israel will spend another day without attacking Gaza.
The extension also makes way for more humanitarian aid in Gaza, and provides for nationals from other countries to leave the conflagrated area to be repatriated.
On Monday morning, the two sides of the conflict showed a disposition to extend the humanitarian pause. Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the USA, said if Hamas intends to free hostages, “then the [humanitarian] pause will be extended.” In a Telegram post, Hamas stated that the group is open to "increasing the number of people to be freed.”
There has also been increasing emphasis from the international community on extending the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“That's my goal, that's our goal, to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief," said US President Joe Biden on Sunday.
On Monday (27), the appeal was echoed by Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, and Josep Borrel, the European Union's foreign policy chief, besides other authorities engaged in discussions.
However, after talking to Biden, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was more ambiguous. “The agreement provides for the release of ten more hostages every day. That's a blessing. But I also told the president [Biden] that after the agreement, we will return to our goal: eliminating Hamas.” Also on Monday, he requested a “war budget” of 30 billion shekels.
