UNDEFINED – A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas enters its sixth day on Wednesday after more hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and mediators pushed for a more “sustainable” ceasefire.

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

The final 24 hours of the extended agreement begin later on Wednesday, with another exchange of hostages for prisoners expected, but mediator Qatar said it hoped for a more permanent agreement.

“Our main focus and hope at this time is to reach a lasting ceasefire that will lead to further negotiations and ultimately an end… to this war,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told a news conference in Doha.

“But we work with what we have. And what we currently have is the provision of the agreement that allows us to extend the days as long as Hamas can guarantee the release of at least ten hostages.”

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

An AFP journalist saw masked and armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters handing over hostages to Red Cross officials in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

The released Israeli hostages were all women, including 17-year-old Mia Leimberg, who returned to Israel with her mother and aunt.

The three were all kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, and the teenager was seen holding her dog Bella after her release.

So far there have been few direct reports of the conditions the hostages faced, but the grandmother of 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi, who was released on Monday, said the boy was held in solitary confinement for 16 days.

“The days he was alone were terrible,” Esther Yaeli told the Israeli news website Walla. “Now Eitan seems very withdrawn.”

“High risk of famine”

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

In return, 180 Palestinian prisoners – all women and minors – were released.

Among them was 14-year-old Ahmad Salaima, who returned to his home in East Jerusalem to cheers and hugs from his relatives.

“When Ahmed was in prison, we were unable to visit him, even though he is the youngest Palestinian prisoner at just 14 years old,” said his father Nayef.

The ceasefire agreement has brought a temporary halt to fighting sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that Israeli officials said killed 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians.

Israel’s subsequent air and land assault in Gaza killed nearly 15,000 people and left large parts of the territory’s north uninhabitable, according to Hamas officials.

The World Food Program warned on Tuesday that Gaza’s population was “at high risk of famine if WFP is unable to ensure continued access to food.”

Conditions in the area were “catastrophic”, the agency’s Middle East director said, while a spokesman for the UN children’s fund UNICEF said aid delivered to the Gaza Strip under the ceasefire agreement was “not even sufficient for triage”.

The dire humanitarian situation has increased pressure for a more permanent pause or even an end to the fighting, although Israel has made clear it sees the ceasefire as a brief interlude to secure the release of hostages before the war continues.

The head of the CIA and the director of Israel’s spy agency Mossad were in Doha to discuss the ceasefire with Qatar’s prime minister, a source briefed on their visit said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks.

The talks aim to “build on the progress of the expanded humanitarian aid suspension agreement and initiate further discussions on the next phase of a possible agreement,” the source added.

“We’re fed up”

On Tuesday, Hamas and Israel exchanged accusations of ceasefire violations, but Qatar’s Ansari said the “minimal violations” had “not damaged the essence of the agreement.”

Israel’s allies have been cautious about calling for a complete end to military operations to destroy Hamas, but Group of Seven foreign ministers have pushed for a longer ceasefire.

“We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as necessary to allow for an expansion of assistance and to facilitate the release of all hostages,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Washington has also warned Israel that any new offensive in southern Gaza “must be carried out in a manner that is not designed to lead to significant further displacement,” a senior U.S. official said.

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

“I hope that this ceasefire leads to a complete ceasefire because we are tired of sleeping outside in the rain, losing our loved ones and having to flee,” said Umm Mohammed, who was killed by the terrorist militia from her home in northern Gaza was driven away attack.

The ceasefire in Gaza has not brought an end to violence in the occupied West Bank, where two Palestinian teenagers were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

According to the ministry, more than 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank since the October 7 attacks.