ISRAEL – Efforts to stop deadly violence in Gaza intensified on Wednesday as a ceasefire was set to expire. A source said the militant group Hamas was willing to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

A current cessation of hostilities was due to end early Thursday after a six-day pause in a conflict sparked by deadly Hamas attacks that triggered a devastating Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to travel to Israel on Wednesday to push for an extension of the pause in fighting, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a more permanent ceasefire.

The people of Gaza are “in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe,” Guterres said, after seven weeks of bombing that has left buildings leveled and residents without food and water.

“Intense negotiations are taking place to extend the ceasefire – which we very much welcome – but we believe we need a real humanitarian ceasefire,” he told a UN Security Council meeting.

Sixty Israeli hostages and 180 Palestinian prisoners were released under the ceasefire agreement to the joy of their families – but Wednesday also brought a fresh reminder of the tragic risks of the conflict.

The Israeli army said it was investigating a report from Hamas’ armed wing that a 10-month-old baby hostage, his four-year-old brother and their mother were all killed in Gaza.

The military is “checking the accuracy of the information,” it said in a statement.

“Hamas has sole responsibility for the safety of all hostages in the Gaza Strip,” it said. “Hamas’ actions continue to endanger the hostages, who include nine children.”

With tensions high despite the ceasefire, the Palestinian health ministry in the occupied West Bank said the Israeli army shot dead an eight-year-old boy and a teenager in the area on Wednesday.

The Israeli army said it was “reviewing” the information.

“Hostages out, help in”
As the pause in hostilities brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States entered its sixth day, a source close to Hamas told AFP on condition of anonymity that the militant group had “informed the mediators that it was ready.” “To extend the ceasefire by four days.”

Under this agreement, “the movement could release Israeli prisoners that it, other resistance movements and other parties are holding during this period under the terms of the existing ceasefire,” the source added.

After a NATO meeting in Brussels, Blinken said he would “focus on doing everything we can to extend the pause so we can continue to get more hostages out and provide more humanitarian assistance.”

Israeli media reported that the country’s government had received a list of the new group of hostages, who were scheduled to be released on Wednesday as part of the latest round of releases under the current ceasefire conditions. There was no official confirmation.

On Tuesday, militants freed 12 hostages from Gaza – 10 Israelis and two Thais.

Israel, in turn, released another 30 Palestinians, sparking joyful scenes in the West Bank.

This exchange followed the extension of an initial four-day ceasefire period.

Hamas released more than 20 other hostages outside the scope of the ceasefire agreement, mostly Thais.

On Wednesday, Hamas said it had handed over two more female hostages with Russian citizenship to the Red Cross in Gaza, a gesture for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “efforts.”

Some of the hostages in Gaza are in the hands of another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.

Its spokesman Musab al-Breim told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that “the war will now continue in indirect negotiations with the Israeli occupier.”

He said his group and Hamas were “committed” to respecting the ceasefire agreement “as long as the occupier does so, and we are prepared to pursue a political path to make the occupier pay.”

“Danger of famine”
The ceasefire agreement brought a temporary halt to fighting that began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants poured across the border into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel’s subsequent air and ground assault in Gaza killed nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians, and reduced much of the territory’s north to rubble, according to Hamas officials.

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

Conditions in the area were “catastrophic,” said Corinne Fleischer, the agency’s Middle East director.

A spokesman for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said aid entering the Gaza Strip under the ceasefire agreement was “not enough even for triage” or emergency care.

Hamas-run territory’s health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP on Wednesday that doctors found five dead premature babies at Al-Nasr hospital in Gaza City.

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

“I discovered that my house was completely destroyed – I spent 27 years of my life building it and everything is gone!” said Taghrid al-Najjar, 46, after returning to her home in southeast Gaza.

“I couldn’t eat for two days, then I told myself I had to keep living,” she told AFP. “My house is destroyed, but my children are alive, so we will rebuild it.”

CALL FOR HELP
Israel has made it clear that it views the ceasefire as an interlude to ensure the release of hostages before continuing the war to destroy Hamas.

Blinken said he believes an extension is in Israel’s interest.

“They’re also focused intensely on getting their people home, so we’re working on that,” he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the Security Council: “A resumption of fighting would most likely only lead to a catastrophe engulfing the entire region.”

Israel’s allies stopped short of calling for a complete end to military operations to destroy Hamas, but Group of Seven foreign ministers also called for a longer ceasefire.