Talks between the representatives of Hamas and Israel continued in Qatar on Wednesday, November 29 to seek yet another extension of the truce in Gaza which is set to expire on Thursday morning.
The four-day truce which was mediated by Qatar and Egypt took effect on Friday and was extended for two more days on Monday.
According to an AFP report, Hamas was willing to extend the truce for four more days. An Israeli official was quoted as claiming there can be further extension of the truce on the basis of the release of more hostages.
The unnamed official, however, claimed that this can only happen after “current deal is fully implemented and all women and children are released” the Times of Israel reported.
Ghazi Hamad, member of Hamas’ political bureau was reported saying by Al-Jazeera on Wednesday that they are ready to extend the truce and enter into “deep negotiations” to achieve a comprehensive deal.
“We are interested to release all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails..and we also want to have guarantees that they won’t be arrested again,” Hamad told Al-Jazeera.
Israel released 30 more Palestinian women and children on Tuesday taking the total number of Palestinians released since the beginning of the truce to 180.
However, according to various reports, Israel has arrested more than 160 Palestinians in the same period from different parts of the occupied West Bank.
In return, Hamas and other Palestinian groups released 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals from their captivity on the fifth day of the extended truce on Tuesday.
Palestinian groups have released a total of 86 hostages including 66 Israelis since the beginning of the truce on Friday. Israel claims Hamas has 161 more hostages.
Hamas claimed that 30 more Palestinian prisoners would be released on the sixth day of the truce on Wednesday in exchange for 10 Israeli hostages, Al-Jazeera reported.
Aid and rescue work in Gaza
Meanwhile, civil defense teams in Gaza continue to dig out bodies of the Palestinians buried under the debris created by the Israeli bombardment. In the past five days, at least 160 bodies have been recovered out of a total of nearly 6,500 estimated bodies suspected to be buried under the debris.
According to the reports, the civil defense teams have encountered some difficulties in digging at some places due to lack of heavy machines.
According to Al-Jazeera, in the first five days of the truce, nearly 750 trucks of aid — around 150 trucks a day — reached Gaza, providing much-needed relief to over the two million Palestinians in the besieged territory.
UNRWA had said at least 200 trucks of aid were needed every day given the extent of destruction and the number of affected people.
More than 70% of all Palestinians in Gaza are displaced. Most of the hospitals in the north of the territory have stopped functioning due to Israeli attacks and the blockade on supplies of fuel. Destruction of civil infrastructure has led to a lack of drinking water, cleanliness, and food, leading to fears of a large scale outbreak of diseases in the camps where more than a million Palestinians have taken shelter.
At least 300,000 housing units have been damaged in Gaza in the Israeli bombings since October 7, with 50,000 completely destroyed. This has forced a large number of Palestinians to live in tents and in open spaces during the winter.
The number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli war in Gaza since October 7 has crossed the 15,000 mark. This includes more than 6,150 children and 4,000 women. Over 33,000 Palestinians were injured in the Israeli war which went on for 48 days.
Israel continues to attack West Bank
Meanwhile, in yet another Israeli raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces surrounded a hospital and stopped the medical staff from working. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, two children were shot dead by Israeli forces during the raid in the locality on Wednesday.
242 Palestinians, including 57 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks inside the occupied West Bank since October 7. Over 3, 000 have been wounded in Israeli attacks in the same period.
Israeli forces also arrested 35 more Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank, taking the total number of Palestinians arrested in the region since October 7 to over 3,300, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.
