After a six-day truce in Gaza, Hamas is ready to extend it for another four days, a source close to Hamas told AFP. "Hamas is in a position to release Israeli prisoners that it is holding with other resistance movements and other parties during this period, within the framework of the current agreement and under the same conditions," the source said.
On Tuesday, 60 hostages, including 180 Israelis, were freed by the Palestinian Islamist group. More releases are expected to follow later today. Since the beginning of the truce between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, <> Israeli hostages and <> Palestinian prisoners have been released. At the same time, <> foreign hostages, mostly Thais living in Israel, were also released.
It therefore appears that negotiations regarding an extension of the truce in the Gaza Strip are continuing, supported by the G7 foreign ministers. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank again this week. The heads of U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies were in Doha on Tuesday to discuss with Qatar's prime minister the "next phase" of a potential deal between Hamas and Israel, according to diplomatic sources.
The entry of new humanitarian aid trucks
"Our main goal at the moment, and our hope, is to reach a lasting truce that will lead to new negotiations and, ultimately, an end to the war," Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on Tuesday. However, he was cautious: "We work with what we have. And what we have is that we can extend the truce by one day whenever Hamas is able to guarantee the release of at least 10 hostages," he added.
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Meanwhile, the extension of the truce in Gaza has allowed new trucks of humanitarian aid to enter the seven-week Gaza Strip. However, despite the arrival of hundreds of trucks since 24 November, the situation remains "catastrophic", the World Food Programme (WFP) said, adding that "there is a risk of famine". Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had seen a "massive increase" in some contagious diseases, including 45 times more cases of diarrhoea among young children than usual, even as most hospitals in the Gaza Strip shut down.