Israeli sends negotiators to Cairo to extend the first phase of Gaza ceasefire
Israel announced on Thursday that it would send negotiators to Cairo for talks and attempt to extend the first phase of the ceasefire due to expiration within two days, apparently to ensure more hostages were released while delaying any final deal in Gaza in the future.
The news comes after Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages, and will be released for the last time based on the first phase of the six-week ceasefire that began on January 19. Negotiations have not yet begun in phase two and will eventually lead to the end of the war.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters in Jerusalem that the delegation would travel to Egypt to see if there were common reasons to negotiate an extension of the armistice.
“We said we're ready to make the frame longer in exchange for more hostages. We'll do that if possible.”
Two government officials told Reuters that Israel is seeking to expand its initial phase, with Hamas releasing three hostages a week in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.
If no agreement was reached in the first phase of the ceasefire, the belligerent parties did not clarify what would happen after Saturday. Egypt and Qatar are mediating between Israel and Hamas with the support of the United States.
The initial phase of the ceasefire includes the transfer of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees detained in Israeli prisons. The battle was suspended and Israeli forces withdrew from certain positions in Gaza.
Less than half of the hostages are considered alive
The second phase of the talks, aimed at ensuring the release of the remaining hostages and the entire evacuation of Israeli forces from Gaza, was intended to begin earlier this month.
Israel's government faces public pressure to cease fire to free the remaining hostages, while some within the right-wing government hope to return to the war to achieve their goal of eliminating Hamas.
Israel said the bodies of three of the four hostages were imprisoned overnight and the fourth was killed the day after it was arrested in a Hamas-led raid that caused the war.
Israeli and Hamas officials said Egyptian mediators resolved the latest deadlock regarding prisoners and hostage exchanges. The solution to the Gaza ceasefire deal was the same day after the handover of the young Bibas family's funeral.
The horrific situation of hostages, including some in recession, has intensified the anger of the Israeli public in recent weeks, with the murder of kidnappers, including those of the kidnappers, intensified the anger of the Israeli public and could affect the conversation to expand the truce.
Hamas said on Thursday that it was ready to start the conversation in Phase 2, and that the only way for the remaining hostages in Gaza to be released is through a commitment to the ceasefire.
Israeli authorities believe that less than half of the 59 hostages still exist in Gaza are still alive.
Israeli forces order stay in strategic corridor
Israel's Energy Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan that Israel asked the army to remain in the Philadelphia Corridor, which is the length of the border between Gaza and southern Egypt.
Israeli forces should begin withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border area on Saturday, when the first phase of the ceasefire will end.
Cohen said Israel is now more important than its position to negotiate on the eve of the ceasefire, as it has been fully supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, who began launching heavy bombs this month.
The last four agencies of the hostages in the first phase of the deal were handed over to 643 Palestinians detained in Gaza by Israeli forces or sentenced to jail in Israel. After the manifestation of this anger, the body of the coffin was not publicly displayed before the Gaza crowd.
President Isaac Herzog confirmed in an article on X that the bodies were the bodies of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur, all of which were kidnapped in an October 7, 2023 in the attack on Kibbutz Homes near its Kibbutz Home.
According to Israel, Hamas took 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people in a raid in the southern Israeli community. During the only armistice in November 2023, about half of the hostages were released, while the hostages were alive or died during the war.
Palestinian authorities say more than 48,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack on Gaza. The war has been wasted on the crowded coastal enclaves and has displaced most of the population many times.
Meanwhile, in northern Israel, Israeli police said that at least eight people were injured by a driver who allegedly crashed a car into a highway station, in which authorities believed it was a radical attack.
Police said they had “neutralized” the suspects, who were described as 53-year-old Palestinian in the northern West Bank, who lives in Israel and married an Israeli citizen.
Medical staff said at least eight people were injured in the crash and two were in serious condition and they were evacuated from the hospital.
