CAIRO/JERUSALEM – Israeli forces and Hamas fighters held their fire on Nov 28, beyond the original deadline of a four-day truce, which had been extended at the last minute for at least two days to let more hostages go free.

With both sides expressing hope of further extensions, mediator Qatar hosted the spy chiefs from Israel’s Mossad and the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency at a meeting to “build on progress”, a source briefed on the visits told Reuters.

A single column of black smoke could be seen rising above the obliterated wasteland of the northern Gaza war zone from across the fence in Israel.

But there was no sign of jets in the sky, or any rumble of explosions.

Both sides reported some Israeli tank fire in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City in the morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said: “After suspects approached IDF troops, an IDF tank fired a warning shot.”

During the four-day truce, which began on Nov 24, Hamas released 50 Israeli women and children from among 240 hostages it captured on Oct 7.

In return, Israel released 150 Palestinians held in its prisons.

Hamas also separately released 19 foreign hostages, mainly Thai farm workers, under separate deals parallel to the truce agreement.

Israel has said the truce could extend indefinitely as long as Hamas continues to release at least 10 hostages per day.

But with fewer women and children left in captivity, keeping the guns quiet beyond Nov 29 could require negotiating the release of at least some Israeli men for the first time.

“We hope the (Israeli) Occupation abides (by the agreement) in the next two days because we are seeking a new agreement, besides women and children, whereby other categories that we have that we can swop,” Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera late on Nov 27.

That, he said, would entail “going towards an additional time period to continue swopping people at this stage”.

Israeli Security Cabinet minister Gideon Saar told Army Radio that the two-day extension had been agreed under the terms of the original offer, and Israel remained willing to extend the truce further if more hostages were released.

Israelis would know when the truce was over because the fighting would begin again.

“Immediately upon the completion of the hostage-recovery framework, the war fighting will be renewed,” he said. “We have every intention of implementing the goals of the war as it applies to toppling Hamas in Gaza.”

First respite

The truce so far is the first pause in a war that has lasted more than seven weeks.

More aid was able to reach Gaza, which has been under a total Israeli siege.

The latest escalation of violence was sparked after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct 7. Israel said 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

It vowed to destroy Hamas and launched an aerial and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, which the armed group controls. Officials in the enclave say the Israeli operation has killed more than 15,000 people.

More than two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have lost their homes, trapped inside the enclave with supplies running out.

Thousands of families have been sleeping rough in makeshift shelters with only the belongings they can carry.

Clashes outside prison

The Israel Prison Service said 33 Palestinian prisoners were released on Nov 27 from Israel’s Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank and from a detention centre in Jerusalem, bringing the total number of Palestinians it has freed since Nov 24 to 150.

Israeli forces clashed with some of the dozens of Palestinians who gathered outside Ofer prison to await the prisoner release, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Some of the protesters waved the flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group.

The ministry said a Palestinian was killed in the area, and that it was unclear if he had participated in the clashes.

Palestinian media reported he was shot dead. Israel had no immediate comment on the incident.

Israel added an additional 50 Palestinian women to its list of 300 detainees cleared for release under the truce. It was seen as a sign it was prepared to negotiate for more hostages to go free under further extensions.

Any release of male Israeli civilians would be expected to begin with fathers and husbands captured along with the children and women freed in recent days, like Mr Ofer Calderon, whose daughters Sahar and Erez were freed on Nov 27.

“It is difficult to go from a state of endless anxiety about their fate to a state of relief and joy,” a relative of the girls said.

“This is an exciting and heart-filling moment, but... it is the beginning of a difficult rehabilitation process for Sahar and Erez, who are still young and have been through an unbearable experience.”

On Nov 27, the Israeli military said 11 Israeli hostages – the latest to be freed under the terms of the original truce – had arrived in Israel.

Qatar said the hostages, all dual citizens, included three with French nationality, two with German nationality and six Argentinian citizens.

Under the terms of the original truce, Hamas was due to release 50 Israeli women and children held in Gaza. On its part, Israel was to release 150 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.

There was no limit in the deal on the number of foreigners Hamas could release.

Prior to the latest releases, an Israeli spokesman said the total number of hostages still held in Gaza on Nov 27 was 184, including 14 foreigners and 80 Israelis with dual nationality.

US national security spokesman John Kirby said on CNN that the White House did not believe any Americans would be among the latest group to be freed from Gaza, where Washington says seven to nine US citizens are being held.

A senior US official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week.

He is to discuss sustaining aid flows to Gaza and freeing all hostages, as well as US principles for the future of Gaza and the need for an independent Palestinian state.

Humanitarian crisis

None of the announcements specified how many hostages would be released under the extended agreement.

But the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, Mr Diaa Rashwan, said earlier that the deal being negotiated would include the release of 20 Israeli hostages and 60 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The truce has allowed for aid trucks to enter Gaza.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the extension of the truce as “a glimpse of hope and humanity”, but said two days was not enough time to meet Gaza’s aid needs.

“I strongly hope that this will enable us to increase even more the humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza that (are) suffering so much – knowing that even with that additional amount of time, it will be impossible to satisfy all the dramatic needs of the population,” Mr Guterres told reporters.

Palestinians in Gaza had earlier said they were praying for an extension of the truce.

Some were visiting homes reduced to rubble by weeks of intensive Israeli bombardment, while others queued for flour and other essential aid being delivered by the United Nations relief agency UNRWA.

Displaced Palestinian woman Um Mohammed said life was hard for people still living in the north of the enclave, which has borne the brunt of Israel’s ground invasion so far.

“People up there are searching for food. People want to live, to secure themselves for the coming days, because they are afraid, so they’re securing what they can,” she said. “And if you ask if they are restful or at peace, they are not.” REUTERS