Israel-Hamas truce enters final day with talk of extension
GAZA: The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours on Monday, with the group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its attack.
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.
“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
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.”
Hamas has signalled its willingness to extend the truce by two to four days. 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 other than Hamas.
Israel faces enormous pressure from the families of hostages, as well as allies, to extend the truce to secure more releases.
The third group of hostages released Sunday included a four-year-old American citizen called Abigail whose parents were both murdered in the Hamas attacks. Also among those freed Sunday was an 84-year-old woman who was rushed to intensive care in critical condition.
Thirteen hostages were freed under the terms of the truce in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners, who have been received by rapturous crowds waving Palestinian and Hamas flags.
Hamas separately freed three Thai nationals and a Russian-Israeli citizen, Ron Krivoy, who the group said was released “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin” and his “support of the Palestinian cause”.
Israel has faced mounting pressure to extend the pause mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the first visit to Gaza by an Israeli premier since 2005.
On the outskirts of Gaza City, families took to the road on foot to head south, pushing luggage and relatives in wheelchairs, and carrying children in their arms.
Israel has told Palestinians in Gaza to leave the north for the relative safety of the south, but it has now sent text messages to those in the southern city of Khan Yunis warning it knows hostages are being held there.
The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting. The pause in fighting has allowed more aid to reach Palestinians struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials.