A humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will be extended by two days, Qatari and Hamas mediators said, hours before an initial one four-day ceasefire in Gaza had expired.

“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for another two days,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday .

Qatar, the USA and Egypt have been intensively involved Negotiations to establish and extend the ceasefire in Gaza, which mediators say should be expanded and expanded.

Over the course of the initial ceasefire, Hamas was expected to release a total of 50 civilian prisoners, all women and children.

In return, 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should be released and more humanitarian aid should be allowed into Gaza.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, said he hoped the ceasefire could be further extended.

“It [the possibility of an extension] “It was written in the agreement that if Hamas provided more hostages, the ceasefire would last longer,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have now agreed to release more hostages and to extend the agreement by two days. This is good news for our people, especially the people of Gaza.

“I hope we can extend it until we reach the end of this war. We want to end the war. We are in a temporary ceasefire, but we are trying to extend it. There is great support from Qatar, Egypt and many Western governments to end this disaster,” he said.

There were 39 Israeli prisoners in the first three days of the ceasefire released by the armed group in exchange for 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

As a result of parallel negotiations led by Qatar, Hamas also released 17 Thai citizens, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli dual national.

Hamas militants took about 240 hostages when they stormed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.

After the attack, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 15,000 people, including more than 6,000 children, according to Palestinian officials.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said families in the occupied Palestinian territories would be relieved by the extension.

“This is a source of relief for many families, not only the families of the prisoners, but also other people in the occupied West Bank who watch in horror images as they emerge from the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We refer not only to the murders and the children who lost their lives, but also to the people who were displaced, to the wounded, to the many hungry and in a very difficult situation.”

The White House welcomed the ceasefire extension and said it hoped Americans would be among the prisoners released in the next phase of the exchange. It is believed that there are eight to nine US citizens still among those held.

The United Nations chief also welcomed the two-day extension as “a touch of hope and humanity” but warned that the time was not enough to meet the aid needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“I very much hope that this will allow us to further increase humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.” [are] “We are suffering so much – knowing that even with this additional time it will be impossible to meet all the dramatic needs of the population,” Guterres told reporters.

The extension was announced after Hamas said it had received a list of names of prisoners to be released later on Monday in exchange for Israeli prisoners, the group said on its Telegram channel.

The list includes three female prisoners and another 30 children.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had informed families of the identities of the prisoners, who are due to be released on Monday.