Qatar announced an agreement has been reached to extend the truce in the Gaza Strip for an additional two days, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Monday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli government for comment.
The announcement comes after US President Joe Biden held a call with the prime minister of Qatar Monday, according to a source familiar.
Egypt had said earlier that there were ongoing efforts to extend the pause by two days.
Hamas said it agreed with Qatar and Egypt to extend the truce for an additional two days “under the same conditions reached before.”
The families of the latest group of hostages expected to be released by Hamas have been notified, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Monday.
Earlier on Monday, the prime minister’s office said Israel has received a list of hostages expected to be released on Monday by Hamas and “discussions are underway” about it.
The original deal of a four-day truce to secure the release of 50 women and children was struck with the understanding that the cessation in fighting could be extended by additional days if Hamas was able to produce additional hostages, as CNN has previously reported.
Ten more hostages would grant Hamas one additional day in the pause.
Israeli and US officials believed that there were more women and children being held in captivity than 50, but agreed to the terms of the deal as Hamas insisted that it needed to use the pause in fighting to gather up additional hostages.
It was unclear as of Monday morning what information Hamas had offered on additional hostages.
CNN
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