This is how the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was extended for one more day and may soon end
A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas ended Thursday after Hamas refused for hours to provide a list of hostages that included 10 women and children, a condition Israel insists must be met.
After a tense and lengthy back-and-forth over extending the cease-fire for a seventh day, the Israeli government finally agreed to release only eight new Israeli hostages on Thursday and to count the two Russian-Israeli hostages freed on Wednesday. Multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN in part of Thursday’s release.
The effects of destruction caused by airstrikes on houses seen in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 30, 2023. Credit: Ahmed Hasaballa/Getty Images
After Israel rejected a Hamas list of seven women and children and the bodies of three men killed by Israeli airstrikes, Hamas continued to say it could not find the women and children. Hamas then began offering seven women and children and three elderly men, which the Israelis deemed unacceptable, a source said.
Hamas waited until the end of the ceasefire to hand over a list that Israel finally accepted: eight new hostages in addition to the two Israeli-Russians who were released on Wednesday, according to the sources. Negotiations have proved fluid, leaving open the possibility that the number of hostages released on Thursday could change.
The parties are now in the process of extending the cease-fire daily, where Hamas must provide a new list of 10 hostages and commit to another 24-hour pause in fighting. Nervous negotiators expect the process of extending the fighting into an eighth day to be more difficult, given the serious challenges posed by Hamas until the last minute when it said it was having trouble finding enough hostages.
