12 more Gaza hostages freed as mediators seek lasting truce

GAZA STRIP

Truce between Israel and Hamas enters its sixth day Wednesday after additional hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, with mediators pushing for a more "sustainable" ceasefire.

After a 48-hour extension of an initial four-day truce, a new group of 12 hostages was freed from Gaza on Tuesday, with 30 Palestinians released by Israel.

The final 24 hours of the extended agreement begins later Wednesday, with one more exchange of hostages for prisoners expected, but mediator Qatar said it was hoping for a more durable arrangement.

"Our main focus right now, and our hope, is to reach a sustainable truce that will lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end... to this war," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said.

"However, we are working with what we have. And what we have right now is the provision to the agreement that allows us to extend days as long as Hamas is able to guarantee the release of at least 10 hostages."

That provision has allowed the two-day extension that saw 10 Israeli hostages released from Gaza overnight Tuesday, along with two Thais freed outside the scope of the agreement.

So far, 60 Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza under the terms of the deal, with a Russian-Israeli, 20 Thai and one Filipino freed outside the scope of the agreement.

In return, 180 Palestinian prisoners -- all women and minors -- have been released.

The World Food Programme warned Tuesday that Gaza's population faced a "high risk of famine if WFP is not able to provide continued access to food."

On Tuesday, Hamas and Israel traded accusations of truce violations, but Qatar's Ansari said the "minimal breaches" did not "harm the essence of the agreement."

Israel's allies have been wary of calling for a complete end to military operations designed to eliminate Hamas, but foreign ministers from the Group of Seven have urged a longer truce.

"We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages," they said in a statement Tuesday.

Washington has also warned Israel that any fresh offensive in southern Gaza must be "done in a way... not designed to produce significant further displacement," a senior US official said.

An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to leave their homes so far, more than half the territory's population.

"I hope this truce will lead to a complete ceasefire, because we are fed up of sleeping outdoors in the rain, of losing our loved ones and having to flee," said Umm Mohammed, who was driven from her home in northern Gaza by the assault.

The truce in Gaza has not ended violence in the occupied West Bank, where two Palestinian teenagers were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.