Israel-Hamas truce extended by two days in Gaza

A humanitarian pause in the Gaza strip will be extended by additional two days, according to Qatar.

The Qatari spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the humanitarian pause will be extended as part of ongoing mediation efforts.

The pause was set to expire on Tuesday, but will continue “under the same conditions reached before”, according to Hamas.

The temporary ceasefire was part of a wider agreement, mediated by Qatar, that has seen the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Since the start of the pause, 39 Israeli hostages were freed from Gaza, while 117 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails.

The original agreement stated that 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian detaineed will be released throughout the four-day pause.

It also stated that, with every 10 additional hostages released, the pause will be extended by another day.

The deal includes the delivery of aid and fuel into Gaza, but this became a point of contention when Hamas said on Saturday it would delay the second round of hostage releases until Israel commits to letting aid trucks enter northern Gaza.

According to the BBC, a spokesperson for UN secretary-general António Guterres said the organisation scaled up its humanitarian aid to Gaza over the four days of the ceasefire, but the supplies “barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced people”.