00:00 In a diplomatic development, Qatari mediators have announced a two-day extension of the
00:06 truce between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas.
00:11 According to reports, the initial ceasefire, which was set to conclude on Monday night,
00:16 has now been prolonged.
00:18 A spokesperson from the Qatari foreign ministry took to the social media platform X, stating
00:24 that an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two
00:29 days in the Gaza Strip.
00:31 Late on Monday, the Israeli military revealed that the Red Cross had confirmed the reception
00:37 of another batch of hostages, marking the latest group to be released under the terms
00:42 of the original truce.
00:45 This batch comprised 11 hostages and the release has prompted Hamas members to compile a new
00:50 list of hostages in Gaza following the truce extension.
00:55 Qatar specified that among the recently released hostages were three individuals with French
01:00 citizenship, two with German citizenship and six Argentine citizens.
01:05 In response, the Israel Prison Authority confirmed the release of 33 Palestinian prisoners as
01:10 part of the ongoing deal.
01:18 Over the weekend, Hamas had previously released 17 hostages, including a four-year-old Israeli-American
01:24 girl, on the third day of the original four-day ceasefire deal.
01:29 Israel had indicated its willingness to extend the ceasefire for an additional day for every
01:33 10 hostages released.
01:36 On Monday, Hamas announced that it had reached an agreement with Qatar and Egypt for a two-day
01:41 extension of the truce under the same conditions as the initial four-day ceasefire.
01:47 As part of the broader context, Hamas has now released a total of 58 captives in adherence
01:52 to the deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt aimed at temporarily halting hostilities between
01:58 Israel and Hamas in exchange for humanitarian aid for Gazans.
02:08 Despite the temporary truce, Israeli jets targeted and eliminated five senior Hamas
02:13 commanders in Gaza.
02:15 The individuals were identified by the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, as Ahmed Ghandour,
02:21 commander of Hamas' Northern Gaza Brigade; Ayman Siam, head of Hamas' rockets array;
02:26 Wael Rajib, deputy commander of Hamas' Northern Gaza Brigade; Farsan Khalifa, senior
02:32 operative in Hamas' Judea and Samaria headquarters; and Rafed Salman, commander of the Combat
02:38 Assistance Unit in Northern Gaza.
02:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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