Hamas has freed over 58 hostages through Sunday, including non-Israelis and is slated to release another 11 Israelis on Monday to fulfill the four-day pact.

US President Joe Biden has said that he supports prolonging the ceasefire. The halt in fighting is “critically needed” for additional aid to get into the Gaza territory and for more hostages to be freed.

“This deal is delivering life-saving results,” Biden said on Sunday. “This deal is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results. That’s my goal. That’s our goal: to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow.” 

The United Nations has said that many people still have no food or cooking fuel and that bakeries aren’t operating, raising concerns about nutrition, especially in northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Biden on Sunday and said that an extension was possible, reiterating that every extra day of the truce is conditional on 10 more hostages being released. 

Israel will not change its goal of trying to destroy Hamas, he also said.

A longer truce “would be welcome,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “At the same time, I also told President Biden that at the end of the outline, we will go to realizing our goals with full force: Eliminating Hamas, ensuring that Gaza will not go back to being what it was and – of course – releasing all of our hostages.”

The truce includes the delivery of food and medicine into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. 

According to Israel, 200 aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday.

The war between Hamas and Israel was triggered after Hamas in an attack on Israel on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and abducted 240 people.

In a retaliation, Israel bombarded Gaza and launched a massive ground offensive against Hamas.

More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

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Updated: 27 Nov 2023, 03:46 PM IST