GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories – Israel and Hamas were negotiating through mediators on Nov 29 over another potential extension of their truce, with hours left to reach a deal before fighting was due to restart after a six-day pause.

Israeli media, citing the Prime Minister’s Office, reported that Israel received a list of hostages expected to be released by Hamas on Nov 29.

Hamas, in turn, published a list of 15 women and 15 teenagers to be released from Israeli jails. For the first time since the truce began, it included Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as residents of occupied territories.

A Palestinian official told Reuters that despite a willingness on both sides to prolong the truce, no agreement had yet been reached. Discussions were still under way with mediators Egypt and Qatar, he said.

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said Israel would consider any serious proposal, but he declined to provide more details.

“We are doing everything we can in order to get those hostages out. Nothing is confirmed until it is confirmed,” Mr Levy told reporters in Tel Aviv.

“We’re talking about very sensitive negotiations in which human lives hang in the balance.”

Once the release of hostages ends, the fighting will resume, he added.

“This war will end with the end of Hamas,” he said.

So far, Hamas has freed 60 Israeli women and children from among the 240 hostages its fighters seized in a deadly rampage on Oct 7 under the deal that secured the war’s first truce.

A total of 21 foreigners, mainly Thai farm workers, were also freed under separate parallel deals.

In return, Israel has released 180 Palestinian security detainees, all women and teenagers.

The initial four-day truce was extended by 48 hours from Nov 28, and Israel has said it would be willing to prolong it further as long as Hamas frees 10 hostages a day.

But with fewer women and children still in captivity, that could mean agreeing to terms governing the release of at least some Israeli men for the first time.

The Nov 28 release also included, for the first time, hostages held by Islamic Jihad, a separate militant group, as well as by Hamas itself. Hamas’ ability to secure the release of hostages held by other factions had been an issue in earlier talks.

First respite

The truce has brought the first respite to a war launched by Israel to annihilate Hamas after the “Black Shabbat” raid by gunmen who killed 1,200 people on the Jewish rest day, according to Israel’s tally.

Israeli bombardment has since reduced much of Gaza to a wasteland, with more than 15,000 people confirmed killed, 40 per cent of them children, according to the Palestinian health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations.

Many more are feared buried under the ruins. The Palestinian Health Ministry said another 160 bodies had been pulled out of rubble during the past 24 hours of the truce, and around 6,500 people were still missing.

There was no immediate word on whether the final group to be freed on Nov 29 would include the youngest hostage, 10-month-old baby Kfir Bibas, held along with his four-year-old brother and their parents.

Relatives had come forward with a special plea after the family was omitted from the penultimate group freed on Nov 28.

Hamas armed wing on Nov 29 said the infant, his brother and mother were killed in an earlier Israeli air strike. The Israeli army said it was checking this claim.

The White House said eight to nine Americans were still being held hostage.

US national security spokesman John Kirby said the United States was hopeful Hamas would release more Americans, and the US government would work with Qatar to extend the pause in fighting.

“We want to see all the hostages out. The way to do that is these pauses,” Mr Kirby told reporters travelling on the President’s plane on Nov 28.

The truce has held throughout the six days despite reports from both sides of comparatively small-scale violations, though both say they are prepared for war to resume with full intensity the moment it lapses.

A spokesman for Israel’s military said the truce was still holding on Nov 29.

Palestinians accused Israeli forces of firing at homes near the beach in Khan Younis from the sea, and of shooting in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

Qatar, which mediated indirect talks between Hamas and Israel that resulted in the ceasefire, on Nov 28 hosted the spy chiefs from Israel’s Mossad and the US’ Central Intelligence Agency.

The officials discussed possible parameters of a new phase of the truce, including Hamas releasing hostages who are men or military personnel, not just women and children, said a source briefed on the matter.

They also considered what might be needed to reach a ceasefire lasting more than a handful of days.

Qatar spoke to Hamas before the meeting to get a sense of what the group might agree to.

Separately, in a joint statement on Nov 28, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations called for an extension of the ceasefire and more humanitarian aid.

Warning of more deaths due to disease in Gaza

Israel’s siege has led to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, especially in the north where no hospitals remain functioning.

The World Health Organisation said more Gazans could soon be dying of disease than from bombings. It added that many people had no access to medicine, vaccines and safe water, as well as hygiene and food.

More than two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have lost their homes to Israeli bombardments, with thousands of families sleeping rough in makeshift shelters with only the belongings they could carry.

“We have a dramatic humanitarian situation. At the same time, we want to have the full release of all hostages, that we believe should be unconditional and immediate. But we need a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza now,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Nov 28.

The temporary ceasefire has allowed about 800 aid trucks to enter Gaza, and the first of three US planes with humanitarian supplies for Gaza landed in Egypt on Nov 28.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths was set to travel to the Jordanian capital Amman on Nov 29 to discuss opening the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from Israel.

Located at the intersection of Israel, the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Kerem Shalom crossing transported more than 60 per cent of the aid going into Gaza before the current conflict.

Aid for Gaza now comes through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks.

“We know that more humanitarian aid should be delivered in Gaza. We know how we could increase it, but there are constraints beyond our control,” Mr Griffiths told a briefing of member states at the UN in Geneva on Nov 28.

“We know that the people of Gaza need much more from us.”

Israel has said when the war resumes, it intends to press on with its assault from the northern half of Gaza into the south.

The White House said on Nov 28 that Israel faced an “added burden” to protect civilians in the south because many had fled from the north to the south. REUTERS