Israel approves temporary extension of Gaza ceasefire

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Israel approves temporary extension of Gaza ceasefire

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">Reuters

Israeli soldiers stand on a tank on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip. Photo: February 2025

The Israeli government has approved a temporary extension of the Gaza ceasefire for the next six weeks, covering the ******* Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office made the announcement shortly after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire expired at midnight on Saturday.

Netanyahu’s office said that under a ceasefire proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, half of the hostages still held by ****** in Gaza – both alive and dead – would be released on the first day.

The remaining hostages would be freed “if an agreement on a permanent ceasefire is reached”.

****** has not publicly commented on the latest Israeli move.

The Israeli government backed the ceasefire extension after a four-hour meeting called by Netanyahu.

The prime minister’s office claimed that ****** “has so far refused” to back the Witkoff plan, adding that Israel would immediately start negotiations if the group changed its position.

The US envoy’s plan envisages that Israel could return to fighting after 42 days if it believed negotiations on a second phase had failed.

On Friday night, ****** said it would not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that phase two would eventually take place.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

including the ************ Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the BBC’s Paul Adams reports from Jerusalem.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to put their lives back together in the current, fragile peace

The first phase of the ceasefire that came into force on 19 January expired on Saturday.

It halted 15 months of fighting between ****** and the Israeli military, allowing the release of 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages for about 1,900 ************ prisoners and detainees.

But negotiations on phase two, including the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, have barely begun.

There are believed to be 24 hostages alive, with another 39 presumed to be dead.

****** carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.

Israel responded with an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the territory’s ******-run health ministry.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Israel #approves #temporary #extension #Gaza #ceasefire

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up