ReutersThe Israeli government has approved a temporary extension of the Gaza ceasefire for the next six weeks, covering the Muslim periods of Ramadan and Jewish Passover.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this announcement shortly after the first phase of the cease-fire previously agreed expired on Saturday at midnight.
Netanyahu’s office said that as part of a cease -fire proposal by the envoy of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, half of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza – both alive and dead – would be released on the first day.
The remaining hostages would be released “if an agreement on a permanent ceasefire is concluded”.
Hamas has not publicly commented on the latest Israeli move.
The Israeli government supported the extension of the ceasefire after a four-hour meeting called by Netanyahu.
The Prime Minister’s office said that Hamas “had so far refused” to support Witkoff’s plan, adding that Israel would immediately start negotiations if the group changed its position.
The American envoy provides that Israel could return to the fighting after 42 days if he thought that negotiations on a second phase had failed.
Friday evening, Hamas said that it would not accept any extension of the first phase without guarantee of the American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that phase two would finally take place.
Hamas seems determined to remain a force in Gaza, even if it could be willing to give daily to other Palestinian actors, Including the Palestinian authority in the West Bank occupied by Israeli, the reports of the BBC Paul Adams of Jerusalem.
EPA-EFE / REX / ShutterstockThe first phase of the ceasefire which entered into force on January 19 expired on Saturday.
He stopped 15 months of fighting between Hamas and the Israeli army, allowing the liberation of 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
But negotiations on phase two, including the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, barely started.
It is believed that there would be 24 living hostages, with 39 others presumed to be dead.
Hamas led an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 other hostages.
Israel responded by an air and terrestrial campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people were killed, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas in the territory.
