Yahoo News Israel-Hamas latest updates: Gaza truce extended by two days, Qatar claims
SpaceX owner Elon Musk visited Israel on Monday, as Hamas and a number of other governments pushed for a ceasefire extension.
Qatar's foreign ministry has claimed the truce in Gaza has been extended for two more days.
It has not been specified how many hostages would be released, but earlier the head of Egypt's State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said the deal being negotiated would include the release of 20 Israeli hostages. In exchange 60 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would be freed.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, but a White House official confirmed agreement had been reached
.An Israeli official had previously reiterated it would agree to an extra day of truce for the release of each group of 10 hostages. In exchange, three times the number of Palestinian prisoners would be released each time.
A Hamas official said in a phone call with the Reuters news agency: "An agreement has been reached with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary humanitarian truce by two more days, with the same conditions as in the previous truce."
On Sunday, Hamas freed 17 people, including a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, bringing the total to 58. Israel has released 117 Palestinian prisoners.
The truce was the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza.
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