As the Israel-Hamas truce enters its final 24 hours, Hamas is showing willingness to extend the pause after releasing more hostages. Simultaneously, Israel is facing mounting pressure from allies and the hostages’ families to prolong the truce for additional releases.
The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours on Monday, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages. The pause that began Friday has seen dozens of hostages freed, with over 100 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return.
Attention now has turned to whether the truce will be extended before its scheduled end early on Tuesday morning.
Israel is under increasing pressure from hostage families and allies to extend the truce, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt for additional releases.
“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 into those in need in Gaza,” US President Joe Biden said on Sunday. He said he would like the fighting to be paused for “as long as prisoners keep coming out.” “I get a sense that all the players in the region are looking for a way to end this, so the hostages are all released and… Hamas is completely no longer in control of Gaza.”
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Hamas has signaled its willingness to extend the truce, with a source telling AFP the group told mediators they were open to prolonging it by “two to four days.” “The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners” in that time, the source close to the movement said.
Under the truce, 50 hostages held by the militants were to be freed over four days in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners. A built-in mechanism extends it if at least 10 Israeli captives are released each extra day.
One potential complicating factor is the fact that some hostages are believed to be held by groups besides Hamas.
“It would be good, helpful and necessary” to extend the truce until all hostages, who include French nationals, are freed, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told BFMTV on Sunday.
The pause in fighting has allowed more aid to reach Palestinians struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials. However, Adnan Abu Hansa, a spokesman for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), warned of “unprecedented” humanitarian needs.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
