Extending the ceasefire – Israel and Hamas agree at the last minute

Negotiations on extending the temporary truce, which has entered into force since Friday, have reached their final stages between Israel and Hamas.

The new truce will be in effect for the next 24 hours.

Israel had previously announced that it would extend the ceasefire as long as Hamas agreed to release at least ten hostages per day. The reason for the protracted negotiations is said to be that the list of hostages that Hamas will release on Thursday is insufficient, according to Israeli media.

– Hamas allegedly wanted to include three dead people among the 10 hostages, and Israel could not accept that, says Stefan Asberg, SVT’s foreign correspondent on the ground in Jerusalem.

Shortly before 6 a.m. on Thursday, Swedish time, and a few minutes before the previous ceasefire expired, the IDF announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to extend the agreement when the new list was accepted. This was also confirmed by Hamas on Thursday morning, according to what Reuters reported.

‘Negotiations are getting more difficult’

The problem going forward is that negotiations to exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners will become more difficult, according to Stefan Oseberg.

Hamas no longer has many captive women and children. Whichever one he primarily wants to use for negotiation purposes. In the next stage, it is about Israeli soldiers and young Israelis who will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, and after that the efforts will be completely different, says Asberg.

He explains that during the 2011 agreement, an Israeli soldier was exchanged for a thousand Palestinian prisoners.