Hamas terrorists say they are willing to extend truce with Israel

This Sunday, Hamas announced its intention to extend the hostage agreement and the current truce with Israel for 2 or 4 days beyond the initial period.

The Palestinian terrorist group expressed its desire to extend the temporary truce, scheduled to end Monday night, suggesting that between 20 and 40 additional hostages could be freed.

The agreement negotiated between Israel and Hamas expects the release of 50 women and children taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and a four-day ceasefire.

The current agreement also allows the two sides to extend the truce an additional day for every ten hostages released, up to a maximum of 100. In exchange, Israel agrees to release more prisoners at a rate of three for every hostage.

So far, 39 Israeli hostages and 117 Palestinian prisoners have been released as part of the deal, excluding one Russian-Israeli man and 19 foreign nationals released separately from the Israel-Hamas deal.

The United States hopes that the agreement will be extended

The United States also expressed its hope that the truce will be extended for several more days but noted that it is up to Hamas to guarantee this since Israel has already established the conditions to do so.

Jake Sullivan, US national security advisor, acknowledged that the truce has allowed Hamas the ability to "refit and retool" and "generate propaganda" on social media.

Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that his country decided to accept the risks that accompany the hostage agreement: "People being reunited with their families — the humanity of it, the sense of accomplishment of that and the possibility and promise that more and ultimately, all of the hostages will come home."

Netanyahu is also open to extending the truce

Shortly after Hamas announced its desire to extend the truce, Netanyahu said he had expressed his willingness to extend the current truce to Joe Biden but assured him that once it ends, the IDF ground operation will fully return to normal force.

"At the end of the deal, we are returning full power to carry out our aims: destroy Hamas, ensure that Gaza won't return to what it was, and, of course to free all of our hostages," he said. "I am sure that we will succeed in this mission — because we have no other choice," he concluded.