Gaza can breathe a few more hours after the agreement reached this Monday by the Israeli Government and the Islamist group Hamas to extend the humanitarian truce for two more days, and with it the exchange of hostages for prisoners and the entry of aid into Gaza. The self-proclaimed Islamic Resistance Movement announced yesterday not only that this pause was being extended “under the same conditions as the previous one”; also, that the truce can be extended even longer. This was stated by Hamas Political Bureau member Jalil al Hayá, who also expressed his desire for more aid to reach the northern Gaza, where the Israeli military offensive has been concentrated.

In that temporary ceasefire agreement accepted by the parties involved in the war that came into force on Friday, the possibility of extending the truce for up to ten days was contemplated on the condition that Hamas hand over ten hostages each day. A figure that, to date, has been met. Since the aforementioned pact was signed, Hamas has freed 69 hostages held captive in Gaza, while Israel has released 150 Palestinian prisoners, many of them minors, that it held in different prisons in the country. On the last day of the truce before its renewal, Israel released three women and 30 Palestinian minors in exchange for the 11 hostages that Hamas had released a few hours earlier.

This being the case, it is expected that in the next two days of the ceasefire the exchange of the many people still held prisoner by both parties will continue. The agreement, which is being fulfilled mainly thanks to the mediation of Qatar and Egypt, has not been without tension. Without going any further, this past Saturday, the second day of the pause, there was an agonizing day due to the delay in the delivery of hostages that almost put an end to the pact.

An agreement that, on the other hand, has been limited only to Gaza, since the Israeli Army has continued to make incursions into the West Bank. There, on Tuesday night, at least two Palestinians, one of them a minor, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the city of Ramallah, where clashes broke out while a group of civilians were waiting for the arrival of the three Palestinian women and the 30 minors recently released from Ofer prison. As the attacks continue in this area, death is once again stalking the civilian population, as the sides, especially Israel, have been reminded more than once.

The country’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already insisted on several occasions that, once the pause is over, he will hit Gaza again with an offensive “stronger than ever”, so the number of victims of the massacre will rise again in the coming days, with no signs of this war ending soon. For this reason, the international community continues to press for this truce to be extended even longer. In fact, Qatar, mediator of the agreement along with the US and Egypt, has already expressed its hope that the agreement between Israel and Hamas lead to a permanent ceasefire.

More than 15,000 dead in the conflict

The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has risen to 15,000 – more than 6,150 are children and more than 4,000 women –, according to the figures presented by Hamas, who has also stated that there are more than 36,000 wounded. In that same statement, the Islamist group has also pointed out that to date they have registered 7,000 missing people, whose whereabouts are either unknown or it is believed that they are under the rubble.

This new count includes the identification of people who have been pulled from the rubble since the beginning of the truce, who have been buried, picked up from the streets or who have died from their injuries. Hamas has also stated that, until the beginning of the truce, 207 health workers have died, between doctors, nurses and emergency service workers; 26 members of civil protection and 70 journalists.