Hamas is seeking to extend the ongoing truce and hostage agreement beyond the initial four-day period, the terror group announced on Sunday night.
In a statement, the Palestinian terror group said it was hoping to extend the temporary ceasefire, which is currently scheduled to end on Monday night, in order to secure the release of more Palestinian security prisoners jailed by Israel.
The Qatar-negotiated deal between Israel and Hamas stipulates that 50 women and children taken hostage by Hamas during its October 7 onslaught must be freed over the course of a four-day ceasefire in exchange for 150 Palestinian female and underage security prisoners.
The deal also allows for both sides to agree to extend the truce by an additional day for every 10 hostages released after the initial 50, for a maximum of 100. In return, Israel will release up more security inmates by a ratio of three for every hostage.
Thus far, 39 Israeli hostages and 117 Palestinian prisoners have been released as part of the deal, not including an Israeli-Russian man and 19 foreign nationals freed from Gaza separately from the Israel-Hamas agreement.
The statement published by Hamas appeared to be the first time that Gaza’s ruling terror group has formally expressed its desire to extend the truce, which has allowed for the first break in the intense fighting since the outbreak of war.
Earlier Sunday, a Hamas source told AFP that the terror group was interested in extending the truce for 2-4 days, indicating that 20-40 more hostages may be freed this week.
The US also expressed hope Sunday that the truce will be extended for several more days, but noted that it was up to Hamas to ensure that it does, as Israel has already set out the conditions for doing so.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview on Sunday that the pause could be “extended for another day, or two days, or three days or even more.”
“The ball is in Hamas’s court on that because what Israel has said is that it is prepared to pause another day of fighting for every 10 hostages that Hamas releases,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
“If the pause stops, the responsibility for that rests on the shoulders of Hamas, not on the shoulders of Israel,” the top Biden aide asserted.
He acknowledged that the truce has allowed Hamas the ability to “refit and retool” and to “generate propaganda” on social media.
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