The two sides have agreed to a 48-hour extension to the initial four-day break in the fighting, in exchange for the release of 20 more Israeli hostages and 60 Palestinian prisoners. Aid organizations hope that it will allow for the delivery of further desperately needed supplies into the besieged Palestinian enclave, where the humanitarian situation is worsening as colder winter weather sets in.
CIA Director William J. Burns went to Qatar on Tuesday to meet with his Israeli counterpart in hopes of brokering an expansive deal that would include several more days of quiet and the release of not just women and children hostages but also men and military personnel.
Qatar — the key mediator in the Israeli-Hamas negotiations to date — also said it hopes the humanitarian pause will be further extended and that it would involve more than just women and children.
“The priority at this moment is civilian women and children,” said Majed Al Ansari, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Military men will come into discussion” after that.
The United Nations, which has repeatedly expressed concern over the weeks of bombing and then ground combat in the densely populated enclave, also called for a full humanitarian cease-fire rather than just the current pause.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and requires the urgent entry of additional aid and supplies in a smooth, predictable, and continuous manner to alleviate the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” Tor Wennesland, the United Nations’ special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said in a statement Tuesday.
Israel on Tuesday said it received a list of the first 10 to be released under the extension deal and that families had been informed, without releasing further details. Israeli authorities also published a list of 50 Palestinian detainees slated for release.
While providing some respite from the relentless bombardment and relief for Israeli families whose loved ones have been held hostage and those of Palestinian prisoners, on the ground in Gaza the pause is overshadowed by the fact that the return to war appears inevitable.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliation since the Hamas-led attack last month that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead. Gaza residents have used the pause to try to scramble for warm clothes and supplies, visit devastated homes and recover bodies from the rubble-strewn streets.
Hanaa Moeen, a 38-year-old mother of three from Gaza City who was sheltering in an apartment with six other families in the southern city of Rafah, said that the only change during the pause was that she’d been able to venture out onto the streets. The north has borne the brunt of the fighting and hundreds of thousands fled south.
“Extending the cessation of war for two days is both good and painful because we know that the war will return, and nothing has changed,” she said. “We are now in the winter season, facing difficulty in acquiring winter clothes and the need for heating.”
The pause had given her and her family time to ponder what comes next if they can survive the war, she said. “We do not know if we have a house to return to in Gaza City.”
In the north, Nahed Afif, a 55-year-old who was sheltering in a U.N.-run school in Gaza City, said that despite some aid reaching the area during the pause, supplies still fall short of the “necessities of life.”
“Our desire is not just to extend the truce but to bring an end to the war entirely. I long to sleep in my bed in my house,” he said. “Even if it’s destroyed, I’d be content to sleep in a tent next to it,” he said, adding that tanks were currently blocking his way home.
Since the pause came into effect on Friday, Hamas has released 69 people it held hostage — 51 Israelis and 18 foreign nationals. Only one American, 4-year-old Abigail Edan, was released, with estimates that at least eight others remain in captivity in Gaza.
Israel has released 150 Palestinian prisoners. Under the truce agreement Israel agreed to release three prisoners in exchange for each Israeli hostage.
The most recent 11 hostages released on Monday night by Hamas were all women and children from Nir Oz kibbutz, with 49 members of the tiny community of just 400 people still missing.
“The news this evening brings a sigh of relief to our community, however we remain deeply concerned about our loved ones that are still held hostage,” said Osnat Peri, the head of the kibbutz. “We demand the return of all hostages, immediately, whatever it takes.”
Released hostages have described deteriorating conditions during their weeks of captivity, with thinning rations and heavy bombing.
The list of the next group of Palestinians approved for release included prominent Palestinian activist Ahed al-Tamimi, 22, who was arrested earlier this month on charges of incitement over an Instagram post. Her family has said the posts were fake.
It also included Rita Murad, a 21-year-old computer science student arrested over several Instagram posts published on Oct. 7. Most Palestinians released or slated for release have not been convicted of any crime and were awaiting trial, according to Jessica Montell, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, though she added that Hamas should have released hostages “unconditionally.”
In a conversation Monday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated calls for Israel to increase aid to Gaza and for state and non-state actors to avoid expanding the war, according to a readout. The first of three U.S. military flights of aid to Gaza is due to arrive in Egypt on Tuesday, carrying food, medicine and “winter items,” according to a senior administration official.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, also said that “it is extremely important” that the offensive that Israel has said will begin in southern Gaza after the pause must “be done in a way that is to a maximum extent not designed to produce significant displacement of persons.”
“Areas of deconfliction” in the south must include United Nations facilities and shelters, and civilian infrastructure that are “immune from kinetic activity,” the official said.
Morris reported from Berlin. Susannah George in Doha, Sarah Dadouch in Beirut, John Hudson and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
