Truce between Israel and Hamas extended by a day, IDF says with minutes to spare

Israel’s military said on Thursday that a truce with Hamas will continue for another day, just minutes before it was due to expire.

Negotiations on extending it came down to the wire, with last-minute disagreements over the hostages to be freed by Hamas in exchange for another day of a halt in fighting.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the truce was being extended under the same terms as in the past, under which Hamas has released 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.

The temporary truce came into effect last Friday to allow for the release of hostages and the delivery of aid to civilians in Gaza.

It was initially due to expire on Tuesday morning, but received a 48-hour extension to allow for the release of more hostages, with the hopes of further extensions.

The extension came as Israel released another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 16 hostages, freed earlier by Hamas in Gaza.

A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees was seen arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn on Thursday.

Most prominent among those freed was 22-year-old Ahed Tamimi, an activist who gained fame in 2017 after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral on social media.

Israeli troops arrested her at her West Bank home on 6 November for “inciting to terrorism” on her Instagram account. Her mother said Tamimi’s account had been hacked.

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