The Israeli government has approved a temporary expansion of the Gaza ceasefire for the next six weeks, covering the period of Muslim Ramadan and Jewish Passah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced immediately after the first phase of the first agreed ceasefire ending at midnight on Saturday.
Netanyahu’s office stated that under a ceasefire proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witcoff, Hamas still had half of the hostages—both survived and dead—will be released on the first day.
“If an agreement reaches a permanent ceasefire,” Hamas will not be publicly commented on the latest Israel’s move.
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The Israeli government supported the ceasefire expansion after a four-hour meeting called by Netanyahu.
The Prime Minister’s office claimed that Hamas “denied” so far “to return the Vitkofy scheme, saying that Israel would immediately begin talks if the group changed its position.
If Israel believes the negotiations in the second phase have failed, the plan proposed by the US messenger suggests that it can resume the fight after 42 days. On Friday night, Hamas said that it would not agree to any expansion of phase one without guaranteeing the intermediary of American, Qatari and Egyptian, which will eventually be two.
Hamas Gaza seems determined to remain a force, even though he is ready to hand over other Palestinian actors in day-to-day rule, which includes Palestinian Authority in Israeli-occupied West Bank, Experssepaper Paul Adams reported from Jerusalem.
On Saturday, the first phase of the ceasefire starting on January 19 ended. This stopped the 15-month battle between Hamas and the Israeli army, allowing 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages to release about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
But the interaction on Charan 2, including the release of all the remaining listers and the return of Israeli soldiers from Gaza, has barely begun.
24 hostages are believed to be alive, believed to be dead with another 39.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 more hostages. Israel responded with an aerial and ground campaign in Gaza Patti, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the region’s Hamas-Interested Health Ministry.