White House welcomes extension of truce between Israel and Hamas

The White House this Monday welcomed the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to extend for two more days the truce that began on Friday and expired this Monday.

As a result of this extension of the pause, the United States “certainly wait” see the release of more Americans who remain hostages in the Gaza Strip, John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, said at a press conference.

Specifically, Washington hopes that there will be Americans among the next 20 hostages to be released, since there are still about eight or nine Israelis with American nationality in the Gaza Strip, Kirby detailed.

So far, only one American has been released, Avigail Idan, a dual Israeli-American citizen, who on Friday served four years while in captivity before finally being freed on Sunday.

The extension of the truce was announced by Hamas and the Government of Qatar, one of the mediators along with Egypt and the United States. Meanwhile, the Israeli Executive has not yet commented on the matter.

Since the beginning of the pact, 58 hostages held captive in Gaza and 117 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails have already been released.

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 following an attack by the Islamist group, which 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 nearby Israeli communities. to the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have since counterattacked in the Palestinian enclave, where more than 15,000 people have already died, according to Palestinian authorities, most of them children and women, and it is estimated that more than 7,000 people are missing under the rubble.