Hamas today claimed three Israeli hostages were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza before the truce was announced.
It comes after Hamas said they are willing to extend a truce for four more days which would give them time to locate and free more Israeli hostages held by other terror groups.
A current truce is scheduled to expire early on Thursday after a six-day pause in the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, which was sparked by the terrorists massacring 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
So far 89 captives have been released and another ten are due to be freed on Wednesday night ahead of end of the temporary truce at 7am tomorrow.
Hamas terrorists still hold at least eight children as hostages in Gaza as the ceasefire enters its final day, as Qatari mediators said they were working for a ‘sustainable ceasefire’.
Palestinians cook among the houses destroyed in Israeli strikes during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Khan Younis refugee camp on November 29
Hamas today ‘informed the mediators that it is willing to extend the truce for four days’, a source close to the terror group said after 12 more captives were freed overnight.
If Israel agrees to this, Hamas ‘would be able to release Israeli prisoners that it, other resistance movements and other parties hold during this period, according to the terms of the truce,’ the source added.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told a Doha news conference on Tuesday that negotiators were seeking ‘a sustainable truce that will lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end… to this war.’
Among the children still held hostage by Hamas is 10-month-old baby Kfir Bibas and his brother Ariel. They were snatched by the terrorists from their home during their October 7 attack along with their parents Yarden and Shiri.
Among the other children being held is Gali Tarshansky, 13, from Kibbutz Bari. Gali had time to tell her family that terrorists had entered the house and were sawing the door of the police station.
She managed to jump out of the window and for three weeks she was declared missing until the family received a message that she had been kidnapped.
Tragically her brother Lior, 15, was murdered in the attack.
Mother Reuma said: ‘I can only imagine the horror my daughter is going through.’
Taken from the same kibbutz was Amit Shani, 16, as he slept with his mother. In a cruel twist he had been due for release earlier this week but was kept hostage by the terrorists.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow…
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