Israel and Hamas reach their fourth day of truce with the uncertainty of whether they will extend it

The Israeli Government and the Islamist group Hamas reached their fourth day of truce this Monday amid uncertainty about whether the ceasefire will be extended for more days, a possibility that included the agreement reached last week by both parties.

Last Friday at 7:00 a.m. local time (5:00 GMT), a four-day truce came into force that included the release of 50 Israeli captives for the release of 150 Palestinians and that opened the door to an extension of up to ten days, if Hamas continued to allow at least 10 hostages a day to leave.

Both the Islamist group and the Israeli Government publicly expressed this Sunday their willingness to extend the agreement, something that has not yet materialized.

Yesterday, Hamas issued a statement in which it expressed its willingness to extend the agreement beyond the four days agreed upon so far.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas is attempting to extend the truce beyond the four-day period, seriously attempting to increase the number of detainees released, as set out in the humanitarian truce agreement.“, announced the Islamist group on Telegram.

Shortly after, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and conveyed to him that he welcomes the possibility of extending the current pact.

However, he added that after this temporary ceasefire Israel would continue to attack with force until its objectives in the war were met.

In addition, numerous voices from the international community have been heard calling for the extension of the truce.

One of them has been that of the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, who asked this Monday that the military pause be extended to allow the release of more hostages and the “much needed relief” for the civilian population of Gaza.

“I ask for an extension of the pause (in hostilities). This would allow much-needed relief and free more hostages“, declared the Norwegian politician at a press conference prior to the meeting of foreign ministers of the Atlantic Alliance that will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels.

In Israel, civilian pressure for the Government and the Army to do everything in their power to return all the hostages to Israel is increasing, as was evident last Saturday in Tel Aviv, where thousands of people gathered. on the occasion of the 50 days of war to once again request the release of the captives.

So far, the exchange of hostages for prisoners has occurred punctually, with the exception of a tense delay that occurred on Saturday, after Hamas denounced an alleged breach of the agreement by Israel.

In three days, Hamas has transferred 39 Israeli hostages to the Red Cross as part of the agreement with the Netanyahu Executive, in addition to another 19 people not included in the pact, of which 17 are Thai, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli.

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 following an attack by the Islamist group that included the launching of more than 4,000 rockets and the infiltration of some 3,000 militants who killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 in Israeli communities near the Strip from Gaza.

Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have since counterattacked on the Palestinian enclave, where there are already more than 14,800 dead, most of them children and women, and estimates that more than 7,000 are missing under the rubble, so the number of Fatalities could be even higher.