The four-day truce in Gaza came into force on the morning of Friday, November 24.
Hamas is reportedly willing to extend a temporary four-day truce with Israel for an additional two-to-four days after its expiry on Tuesday, a source close to the Palestinian resistance movement told AFP on Monday.
“Hamas informed the mediators that the resistance movements were willing to extend the current truce by two to four days. The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners,” the source told the French news agency.
Mediated by Qatar, the four-day truce in Gaza came into effect on Friday morning, providing Palestinians in the besieged enclave with brief moments of calm without Israeli bombardments.
As part of the truce deal, 50 Israeli captives held in Gaza since October 7, will be released. The release of the captives would only come in exchange for the release of around 150 women and children from Israeli prisons.
During the October 7 attack, the Al-Qassam Brigades—Hamas’ armed wing—infiltrated occupied territories for the first time in years through air, land and sea while returning to Gaza with at least 240 captives.
Israel has since used the operation as the pretext for the genocide in Gaza.
Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 20,031 Palestinians, including 8,176 children, since the start of the genocide on Gaza, according to figures by Euro-Med.
Another critical part of the deal also included the entry of additional aid into Gaza, including much-needed fuel as the Strip grapples with a complete embargo imposed by Israel.
The first two waves of releases took place on Friday and Saturday, with Hamas releasing 26 Israeli captives and Israel releasing a total of 78 Palestinian captives from its jails.
The third batch on Sunday involved the release of 13 Israelis held in Gaza and 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, in addition to a dual Russian-Israeli citizen and three Thai captives.
The implementation of the deal on Saturday was delayed by hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce agreement, before it was resolved by Qatar and Egypt.
Hamas spokesperson in Beirut Osama Hamdan told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV at the time that aid allowed into Gaza was “less than half of what Israel agreed on.”
While announcing the truce on Thursday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al Ansari, said the Gulf state had set up an operations room in Doha to monitor the truce and relay messages to the relevant parties, providing real-time communications with Hamas, Israel and the Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that his country remains hopeful that the truce might be extended.
“We are hopeful. This is something we cannot confirm yet until we get to the fourth day, then Hamas should present the list if they are available with them,” he told the American outlet. Separately, a senior Qatari official told the Financial Times that “the agreement has a provision that if Hamas are able to prove, to locate, and secure some of the hostages, then it will be extended.”
