Israel and Hamas agree to extend four-day truce in Gaza

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend the truce in Gaza. That announcement came after Israel said it was willing to extend the cease-fire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released by the terrorist group. Qatar mediators have been instrumental in truce negotiations. U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western leaders had earlier called for the truce to be extended beyond the original Monday deadline. During the first three days of the truce, Hamas released 58 people, including Israeli citizens and foreigners. In exchange, Israel released 117 Palestinians. Hundreds of aid trucks entered Gaza over the weekend as the fighting stopped, and more hostages were expected to be released Monday.

Who are the people being released? Hamas released 17 hostages on Sunday, including 4-year-old Abigail Edan, who is a dual Israeli-American citizen. Terrorists killed her parents during the Oct. 7 attack. Many of the freed hostages were Israeli women and children—others included citizens of Thailand, Poland, and the Philippines. Israel on Sunday released 39 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom are teenaged minors.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher and Myrna Brown’s conversation with Katie McCoy on The World and Everything in It podcast about women in the West converting to Islam.