The truce between warring sides is due to end on Monday night, but Israel has offered to extend the ceasefire if Hamas agrees to release more hostages.
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Whether the deal can be extended will depend on whether Hamas is able to locate the women and children snatched on October 7 who are now being held hostage by civilians and gangs, says Qatar‘s prime minister.
The evil terror group last week reached an agreement with Israel to free 50 women and children in exchange for 150 Palestinians in Israeli prisons over the course of a four-day ceasefire.
Stipulations of the Qatar-negotiated deal stated both sides could agree to extend the truce by an additional day for every 10 hostages released by Hamas after the initial 50 – up to a maximum of 100.
In return, Israel would free three Palestinian inmates for every hostage.
More on the hostage release
But Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says Hamas claimed it did not know where more than 40 hostage women and children were.
He told the Financial Times: “If they [Hamas] get additional women and children, there will be an extension.
“We don’t yet have any clear information how many they can find because … one of the purposes [of the pause in fighting] is they [Hamas] will have time to search for the rest of the missing people.”
About 240 hostages, including Israeli soldiers and elderly civilians, are understood to have been dragged by the terror group to Gaza the day it launched its attacks on Israel.
The Qatari prime minister said Israel was willing to extend the truce if if “there’s proof” Hamas has more women and children to release, “but nothing beyond that”.
He claimed Hamas agreed to release 50 women and children as part of the hostage deal as that was the number it could locate.
The terror group asserted it did not capture civilians and blamed other militant groups and Palestinians for their disappearance, Sheikh Mohammed said.
On Sunday, following the release of 17 more hostages – including four-year-old Israeli-American Abigail Edan, whose parents were reportedly killed in the October 7 attacks – US President Joe Biden called for the truce to be extended.
He told reporters his goal was “to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow, so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief to those in need in Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response that he was open to extending the ceasefire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas.
He clarified that “at the end of the deal, we are returning full power to carry out our aims: destroy Hamas, ensure that Gaza won’t return to what it was and of course to free all of our hostages.”
As part of the current truce deal, Israel has agreed to deliver increased aid into Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces said on Sunday night that 200 trucks had entered the Strip earlier in the day, loaded with 3,600 tonnes of tents, blankets, and mattresses, among other humanitarian aid.
It added: “Over 2,000 trucks have entered Gaza since the start of the war, transferring water, food and medical equipment”.
Hamas said in a statement on Sunday night it was seeking to extend the truce to secure the release of more Palestinians jailed by Israel.
The IDF assured “if it is possible” to secure the release of more hostages “we will do so”.
Sheikh Mohammed said another militant faction in Gaza called Palestinian Islamic Jihad was coordinating with Hamas on the hostage release.
He warned the Israel-Hamas conflict might spread and destabilise “the entire region” if an extended ceasefire is not secured.
Since the truce deal took effect on Friday, Hamas has released 39 Israeli women and children and 18 foreign nationals, while Israel has freed 117 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.
According to Palestinian officials, Israeli strikes launched following Hamas’ initial attacks on October 7 have killed more than 13,300 people in Gaza.
Israel has previously disputed the death toll figures, and while Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted Israel has “not been successful” in reducing civilian casualties, he also stressed the deaths must be blamed on Hamas, not Israel.
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