Hamas and Israel agree on 2-day extension of truce and hostage releases, according to White House

Israel and the terror organization Hamas agreed on a 2-day extension of their original 4-day truce agreement, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated on Monday evening.

The original agreement was set to end on Monday but will be extended by two days according to prearranged terms. This means that 20 additional Israeli women and children will be released by Hamas, while Israel will release 60 additional Palestinian prisoners and there will be a pause in fighting during those days.

There was no official Israeli confirmation of the agreement at the time of publication on Monday evening.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman stated that a two-day extension was agreed upon by both sides.

Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishk told the Qatari Al-Arabi channel: “We have informed mediators from Qatar and Egypt that we have managed to find a number of additional abductees and we will be able to release them.”

“That is why we reached an agreement through Egypt and Qatar to extend the ceasefire for two more days.”

Regarding the large number of remaining hostages, al-Rishk noted: “From the first day we said we were ready to negotiate regarding the kidnapped soldiers - in exchange for the cessation of aggression. At the appropriate time, we will be ready to enter into negotiations regarding them but this issue has not yet been opened. Soldiers have a different price than the price of civilians.”

Another senior Hamas leader, Khalil al-Hayya, explained that the extension was agreed upon after Hamas claims it was able to locate more hostages.

“Hamas members in Gaza informed us that they succeeded after a serious search among all the factions and families in Gaza to locate the number needed for two more release days,” he told the Al Jazeera news outlet.

“The release procedure in the next two rounds will be similar to the previous ones. We will give Israel a list of 10 abductees, and they will respond with a list of 30 prisoners. We are serious about locating each of the abducted women and children, apart from the ones we located, in order to extend the ceasefire further of the two days already agreed upon.”

Hamas is expected to send a list of hostages to be released tomorrow in the coming hours, Israeli media reported.