Israel approves momentary extension of Gaza ceasefire

The Israeli authorities has accredited a short lived extension of the Gaza ceasefire for the subsequent six weeks, overlaying the Muslim Ramadan and Jewish Passover durations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace made the announcement shortly after the primary part of the beforehand agreed ceasefire expired at midnight on Saturday.

Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned that below a ceasefire proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, half of the hostages nonetheless held by Hamas in Gaza – each alive and lifeless – could be launched on the primary day.

The remaining hostages could be freed “if an settlement on a everlasting ceasefire is reached”.

Hamas has not publicly commented on the most recent Israeli transfer.

The Israeli authorities backed the ceasefire extension after a four-hour assembly referred to as by Netanyahu.

The prime minister’s workplace claimed that Hamas “has thus far refused” to again the Witkoff plan, including that Israel would instantly begin negotiations if the group modified its place.

The US envoy’s plan envisages that Israel might return to preventing after 42 days if it believed negotiations on a second part had failed.

On Friday evening, Hamas mentioned it will not comply with any extension of part one with out ensures from American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that part two would finally happen.

Hamas appears decided to stay a power in Gaza, even when it may be prepared handy over day-to-day governance to different Palestinian actors, together with the Palestinian Authority within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, the BBC’s Paul Adams reviews from Jerusalem.

The primary part of the ceasefire that got here into power on 19 January expired on Saturday.

It halted 15 months of preventing between Hamas and the Israeli navy, permitting the discharge of 33 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

However negotiations on part two, together with the discharge of all remaining residing hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, have barely begun.

There are believed to be 24 hostages alive, with one other 39 presumed to be lifeless.

Hamas carried out an unprecedented assault on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 folks and taking one other 251 hostage.

Israel responded with an air and floor marketing campaign within the Gaza Strip, throughout which at the very least 48,365 folks have been killed, in response to the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.