The ceasefire will last one more day, until Friday morning, then the ceasefire will be a week old. After hours of negotiations and as the threat of a resumption of bombings reached the end of the agreed agreement, Israel and Hamas announced early Thursday (around 6 a.m. in mainland Spain) that they would extend the ceasefire for another 24 hours. The Qatari Foreign Ministry also reported this. This is the second time the cessation of hostilities has been extended. It initially lasted four days (Friday to Monday) and was extended by two more days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
According to official Egyptian sources, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators are hastily using the hours gained by the conflict to secure a new extension, in this case by two days. The night from Wednesday to Thursday passed amid efforts by the negotiating countries, with Qatar as the main stage, to iron out differences between the main actors in the war that has been waged since October 7th.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Jerusalem on his third visit to Israel since the beginning of the conflict and told President Isaac Herzog this Thursday: “The process is showing results.” “It is important and we hope it stays that way.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah this Thursday. POOL (via Portal)
Dozens of Palestinians shop this Thursday at a market among the rubble of several houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA (Portal)
A group of displaced girls line up to receive food in the city of Rafah this Thursday. MOHAMMED ABED (AFP)
A Palestinian cooks this Thursday next to the rubble of several buildings destroyed after Israeli bombings on a street in Rafah. MOHAMMED ABED (AFP)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will receive US Secretary of State Antony Blinkene in Tel Aviv (Israel) this Thursday. DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
A police officer points the finger at one of the suspected attackers in the Jerusalem shooting while paramedics treat the wounded this Thursday. Ohad Zwigenberg (AP)
A man loads bags of flour into a UNRWA distribution center in Khan Yunis this Thursday.HAITHAM IMAD (EFE)
Panoramic view of a beach in Deir el Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, where several slums for displaced Palestinians are located this Thursday. MAHMUD HAMS (AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then thanked Blinken for his “support from the beginning” of the war to end Hamas and release the more than 240 hostages the fundamentalist movement kidnapped in Gaza. Netanyahu called on the US diplomatic chief to address the “next phase” of the conflict, without specifying what he was referring to. Blinken will then travel to Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank and headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PNA).
The announcement of the additional ceasefire day coincides with a rise in violence in both Jerusalem and the West Bank. In Jerusalem, three pedestrians and two attackers were killed in a gun attack next to a bus stop claimed by Hamas, according to emergency services and police. According to Israeli intelligence, the two brothers were residents of East Jerusalem, prisoners in Israeli prisons and members of Hamas. It was a “response to the unprecedented crimes of the occupation,” said the fundamentalist movement when it claimed responsibility for the operation.
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“It is the same Hamas that carried out the terrible massacre of October 7, and the same Hamas that is trying to murder us everywhere,” Netanyahu said after meeting Blinken. “We swore, I swore, to eliminate Hamas. “Nothing will stop us,” the prime minister told the US diplomatic chief, according to a statement from his office. “We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals: free all of our hostages, completely eliminate Hamas and ensure that no more such threats come from Gaza,” he added.
As for the West Bank, the Israeli army carried out an incursion into Tulkarem and its refugee camp this morning. According to the official Palestinian agency Wafa, the troops advanced with excavators, caused damage to houses and vehicles, deployed soldiers with dog units and positioned snipers in some buildings.
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The Israeli government has announced that it will continue to supply weapons to civilians, Netanyahu confirmed in a statement on the social network Telegram. “It is a measure that has proven time and time again to be effective in the fight against murderous terrorism,” the president said after some citizens used their firearms to confront attackers in Jerusalem.
Previously, after a visit to the site of the attack, the right-wing extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir had already insisted on his proposal to deliver more weapons to the population, which he had done in recent weeks. “Thanks to my reform, weapons will no longer be confiscated from citizens who neutralize terrorists,” he wrote on his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “Too many heroes who killed menacing terrorists were disarmed. Citizens who defend themselves deserve an award! No confiscation,” he added. Ben Gvir is one of the most extremist members and most critical of the ceasefire in Netanyahu’s cabinet.
However, the ceasefire continues. The Israeli army said in a statement early Thursday: “In view of the efforts of the mediators to continue the process of releasing the hostages and in accordance with the agreed conditions, the pause in operations will continue.” This will allow eight more hostages to be released later on Thursday, all of them women and minors who were in the hands of the jihadists.
Obstacles had appeared throughout the night as we approached the hour of the bell tolling, which opened the possibility of new attacks. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the fundamentalist movement announced that Israel had refused to accept seven more hostages, women and children, as well as the three bodies of its citizens – also women and children from the same family that was presumed dead on Wednesday. That was his offer as a guarantee for this additional day of ceasefire.
These three bodies belong to Shiri Bibas (32) and her children Ariel (4) and Kfir (10 months), whose deaths in an Israeli bomb attack Hamas announced on Wednesday. This Thursday another hostage joins this list: Ofir Tzarfati, who was kidnapped on October 7th at the Supernova festival and whose death was reported to his family by the authorities.
A seventh exchange of hostages and prisoners
The new extension of the cessation of hostilities will allow a seventh exchange of hostages for prisoners and provide Gazans with a few more hours of peace. So the fear that many of them described as a “nightmare” on social networks was, if not dispelled, at least postponed with the announcement of the new commitment. The terms of the agreement are similar to those in force during these six days, and its main points remain, in addition to the cessation of bombing, the release of hostages held by Hamas and other groups in Gaza in return for the release of the Palestinian ones prisoners and the importation of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. There are still around 145 hostages in the Palestinian Mediterranean enclave.
The exchange initially included only women and children on both sides and a significant number of them – 75 – have already been released since last Friday, as have foreign men whose release occurred outside the Hamas-Israel exchange. Discussions on the table include the possibility that Hamas would have to begin handing over male Israeli hostages and soldiers of both genders.
While the Israeli government continues to negotiate an extension of the ceasefire, it continues to insist on its intention to continue its offensive against Gaza, where the army has already killed nearly 15,000 Gazans, according to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry.
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