On the final day of the initial four-day ceasefire, the Israeli military announced on Monday that 11 hostages had arrived to Israel, held in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attacks, have arrived in Israel.

The Israeli military said Monday that 11 hostages held in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attacks had arrived in Israel, on the last day of an initial four-day pause in the fighting.

Mediator Qatar said all 11 were dual citizens: three French, two Germans and six Argentinians.

In exchange, 33 Palestinians would be freed from Israeli prisons, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter.

A truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will be extended by two days, the Palestinian group and mediator Qatar said Monday, opening the way for further releases of hostages and prisoners.

With just hours to go before the so-called “humanitarian pause” was to end early Tuesday, Hamas said that an agreement had been reached to prolong it by 48 hours under the existing terms.

As part of the truce deal, Hamas has so far released 39 Israeli hostages. Israel has freed 117 Palestinian prisoners under the terms of the agreement.

In parallel, Palestinian militants have also released 19 foreign nationals.

“We hope to be able to extend the ceasefire for a longer period” said senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, adding “we have managed to reach the required number of detainees to extend the truce by two days.”

He also expressed the Palestinian group’s willingness “to enter into a new deal that goes beyond women and children.”

Qatar — with the support of the United States and Egypt — has been engaged in intense negotiations to establish and prolong the truce in Gaza.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari announced that “an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas, which runs Gaza and triggered the latest round of fighting by launching a bloody cross-border raid last month, said it was drawing up a new list of hostages for release.

Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had informed families of the identities of hostages to be released on Monday, the last day of the initial four-day truce.

The Qatari announcement came after US President Joe Biden, top EU envoy Josep Borrell and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg all joined a global chorus urging the parties to extend their temporary break in fighting.

The White House welcomed the agreement to extend the truce.

Kirby said that “in order to extend the pause, Hamas has committed to releasing another 20 women and children.”

The EU’s Borrell had called for the pause to be prolonged “to make it sustainable and long lasting while working for a political solution.”

Israel has faced mounting pressure to extend the pause mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, though its leaders have dismissed any suggestions of a lasting halt to the offensive.

In another sign of mounting international concern, UN rights experts called Monday for independent investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October 7.

Morris Tidball-Binz, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture, issued a joint statement stressing the need for “prompt, transparent and independent investigations”.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP