Israel, Hamas agree to extend truce by two days
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, November 27
Qatar has announced the extension of the truce between Israel and Hamas by another two days.
The four-day humanitarian pause was toendon Tuesday morning.
On the fourth and the last day of the first pause, Hamas andIsraelagain exchanged a list of prisoners even as US President Joe Biden joined the call for extension of the ceasefire.
Even while Monday’s exchange of lists of 11 Israeli hostages for 33 Palestinian prisoners was taking place, both Israel and Hamas had indicated a willingness to extend the four-day ceasefire if more hostages and detainees can be released.
Hamas wanted another four-day pause while Israel was in favour of a day-by-day extension, said reports.
Significantly, on the last day of the two-day extension, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair a UN Security Council meeting to press for a ceasefire and a lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing.
Egyptian, Qatari and US negotiators were engaged in negotiations for the extension of the truce amidst rising international pressure, that includes demonstrations the world-over, to start negotiations to end the conflict. Before Qatar’s announcement, reports were stating that most likely there would be a two-day extension that would entail the release of 20 Israelis and 60 Palestinians.
The Israeli government has said it will immediately begin striking Gaza after the end of the humanitarian pause and continue the assault till all hostages are freed and Hamas is dismantled.
The pause has helped increase the shipment of fuel, food and medicines to Gaza but UN groups again said this was a fraction of the requirement. The pause also allowed the media to broadcast the extent of destruction in towns of Gaza with videos showing practically every building bombed in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The US said it had averted a potent hijack of an Israel-linked commercial ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels while Palestinian health officials reported that despite the absence of hostilities, the death toll in Gaza had risen to 14,854, mainly due to the absence of adequate health facilities for the injured and the sick.
Meanwhile, UN special rapporteurs Morris Tidball-Binz and Alice Jill Edwards in a joint statement in Geneva wanted investigators to be given the necessary resources and access for prompt investigations into crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the conflict.
Besides X owner Elon Musk, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also arrived in Israel and said his country would help rebuild kibbutz destroyed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
