INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mediator Qatar said on Monday a deal had been reached to extend a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza by two days, continuing a
pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.&An agreement has been reached to extend
the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,& a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said in a post on social media
platform X.Hamas also said it had agreed a two-day extension to the truce with Qatar and Egypt, who have been facilitating indirect
negotiations between the two sides
There was no immediate comment from Israel.&An agreement has been reached with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary
humanitarian truce by two more days, with the same conditions as in the previous truce,& a Hamas official said in a phone call with
Reuters.Before the statements, the head of Egypt&s State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, had said an extension agreement was close and
would include the release of 20 Israeli hostages from among those seized by Hamas during its Oct
7 assault on southern Israel
In exchange 60 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would be freed, he said.
The initial truce was due to end on Monday night.With
the release of 11 Israeli hostages expected on Monday, negotiations remain ongoing for the release of 33 Palestinians, Rashwan added.The
truce agreed last week was the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about
240 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground
Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.Wide areas of the Hamas-ruled
enclave have been flattened by Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments, and a humanitarian crisis has unfolded as supplies of food,
fuel, drinking water and medicine run out.On Sunday, Hamas freed 17 people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl, bringing the total
number the militant group has released since Friday to 58, including foreigners
Israel freed 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, taking the total number of Palestinians freed under the truce to 117.The post Deal
reached to extend Gaza truce by two days, Qatar and Hamas say first appeared on Ariana News.
