Amid hostage release, Hamas says it is open to extending truce with Israel

The Palestinian armed group Hamas said Sunday it was willing to extend a temporary cease-fire with Israel after the current four-day pause is over.

The pause in fighting began Friday and was slated to continue into Monday. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas agreed to free at least 50 hostages, all women and children, while Israel would release from its prisons 150 Palestinian women and minors, some of whom were detained for violent crimes. (Hamas has separately released other foreign nationals, including 13 Thai citizens.)

The temporary cease-fire is the longest break in the fighting in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, when gunmen from Hamas and other militant groups launched a deadly attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli response -- including weeks of devastating airstrikes and a ground invasion -- has killed more than 13,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

The Israeli government previously said that it was prepared to grant an additional day's pause for every 10 hostages Hamas releases beyond the 50 outlined in the agreement, but Hamas had not publicly responded to that possibility until Sunday.

"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas seeks to extend the truce after the 4-day period ends, through serious efforts to increase the number of those released from imprisonment as stipulated in the humanitarian cease-fire agreement," the group said in a statement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel issued a video statement soon after, noting that there was already an outline for the possibility of freeing an additional 10 hostages for each additional day of truce and adding that he would welcome an extension.

In addition to the pause in fighting, the deal -- negotiated over weeks by the United States, Qatar and Egypt -- included humanitarian aid for Gaza.

There had been speculation over how smoothly Sunday's exchange would proceed after Hamas threatened on Saturday to postpone the second hostages-for-prisoners trade, claiming that Israel had reneged on parts of the agreement related to humanitarian aid. But after an hourslong delay, the exchange went ahead.

President Joe Biden has said "the chances are real" that the pause could open the door to a longer cease-fire and Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, told the Financial Times that the truce could be extended if Hamas was able to use the pause to locate additional hostages being held by other armed groups.

He said that more than 40 other women and children were believed to be held captive in Gaza but not by Hamas. "If they get additional women and children, there will be an extension," he said.

The statement by Hamas came hours after the Israeli prime minister's office said 14 Israelis, including nine children, and three foreigners had been released on the third day of the agreement.

Israeli officials later said they had released 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and Al Aqsa TV, a Hamas-run network, aired footage it said was of a bus carrying individuals released from Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.