dpa
Tel Aviv/Gaza
Israel said it has received a list of the names of further hostages to be released on Thursday, after a last-minute deal was clinched to extend a six-day ceasefire in Gaza.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a list of women and children had been handed over by Hamas in accordance with the agreement and that the ceasefire would therefore continue.
The Israeli war cabinet had unanimously decided the previous evening that fighting would resume if a list was not submitted by 7am (0500 GMT). The list was received before the deadline, Netanyahu’s office said.
The ceasefire, which began on Friday morning and was extended for a first time on Monday, was due to expire early Thursday. According to the original agreement, the pause could be extended to a maximum of 10 days as long as hostages continued to be released daily.
The agreement has also facilitated the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
"The operational pause will continue in light of the mediators’ efforts to continue the process of releasing the hostages and subject to the terms of the framework,” the Israel Defense Forces wrote the online platform X.
Majed Al Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said both sides had agreed to abide to the current conditions, which include a cessation of all military activities and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Al Ansari told the Qatari News Agency that efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire were continuing.
On Thursday, Israeli government spokesman, Eylon Levy, wrote on X, "When Hamas stops releasing mothers and children, we’ll resume military pressure to get EVERYONE out — we won’t abandon our fathers, brothers and sons....”
On Wednesday, Hamas handed over to the Red Cross another 10 Israelis kidnapped in the Gaza Strip as well as four Thai citizens.
It was the sixth group of hostages to have been released as part of the truce agreement negotiated between Hamas and Israel. The group included three German-Israeli dual citizens as well as a dual citizen each from the US and the Netherlands. In return, 30 Palestinian detainees were released from Israeli prisons.