Hamas seeks to extend truce with Israel after 3rd group of hostages released

Hamas on Sunday (local time) said it wanted to extend its four-day truce.

With Israel after the Palestinian terror group released 17 more hostages, including a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, on the third day of the four-day ceasefire deal.

In a statement, Hamas said the truce could be extended if Israel made serious efforts to release more Palestinian prisoners, news agency Reuters reported.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 17 hostages — 13 Israelis, three Thais and one Russian — were successfully transferred to Israel from Gaza by Hamas. On the other hand, Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners who were given a grand welcome in Ramallah, the capital of West Bank.

Among the 17 hostages, Abigail Edan (4) was the first American captive to be released in a development confirmed by US President Joe Biden. Edan witnessed the killing of her parents by Hamas during its initial rampage on Israel on October 7, following which she was abducted.

Here are the top updates in connection with the release of hostages:

Biden said his administration would not stop the work until every hostage was released while noting the release of Edan’s release by Hamas. “We will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones,” Biden said in a press conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Biden spoke on Sunday and agreed to “continue working to secure the release of all hostages”, the White House said.

Officials from Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency hosted its Qatari counterparts in Israel to discuss the remaining hostages held by Hamas and explore other options of a possible extension of a truce that was mediated by Doha, an Israeli security official said on Sunday, news agency Reuters reported.

So far, Hamas has freed 58 captives as part of the deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt to halt hostilities between Israel and Hamas in exchange for humanitarian aid for Gazans. On Friday, Hamas released 24 hostages, 17 on Saturday and 17 more on Sunday.

During his talks with Biden, Netanyahu said Israel will resume its military campaign in Gaza with full force once a temporary truce comes to an end. However, he also said he would welcome extending the truce if it facilitated the release of ten additional hostages every day, as agreed under the original Qatari-brokered deal.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said evidence suggested that the explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17 was likely due to a misfired rocket that targeted the facility. While Hamas blamed Israel for the hospital blast, Israel disputed the claim and said a misfiring Palestinian rocket launch was the cause.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, 471 people were killed, a figure that Israel denies. An unclassified US intelligence report estimated the death toll “at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum”, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, in the US, three college students of Palestinian descent were shot by a man near the University of Vermont in a case of suspected hate crime. The police were searching for the gunman who fled after the attack.

The attack came amid a rise in anti-Islamic and antisemitic incidents in the US and across the world following the Israel-Hamas war on October 7. The war has already killed some 1,200 people in Israel and claimed more than 14,000 lives in Gaza.