Israel-Hamas truce is EXTENDED for another 24 hours as two sides strike last-minute deal in effort to free remaining hostages

With just minutes to go before a six-day ceasefire was set to expire, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to continue the pause in an effort to free the remaining hostages. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that 'a short time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and therefore the truce will continue.'

The truce was set to expire Thursday morning. Negotiations on extending it came down to the wire, with last-minute disagreements over the hostages to be freed by Hamas in exchange for another day of a halt in fighting. 

The extension was originally announced in a post on X from the Israeli Defense Forces. 

'In light of the mediators' efforts to continue the process of releasing the abductees and subject to the terms of the agreement, the ceasefire will continue,' they wrote in Hebrew.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the truce was being extended under the same terms as in the past, under which Hamas has released 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners. 

 The expectation had been to extend the pause in fighting for at least another day or two, with the focus on releasing women and children.

The talks appear to be growing tougher as most of the women and children held by Hamas are freed, as the militants are expected to seek greater releases in return for freeing men and soldiers.

International mediators had been working to extend the truce in Gaza, encouraging Hamas terrorists to keep freeing hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further relief from Israel's air and ground offensive. 

Ninety-seven hostages have been freed since the start of the truce, according to a Reuters tally. The Israeli military says 145 hostages remain in Gaza. 

Last night, the Israeli military said Hamas handed over twelve Israeli and four Thai hostages on the sixth day of the temporary ceasefire.

The truce, extended from its initial four days, has brought the first respite in the bombardment of Gaza with much of the coastal territory of 2.3 million having been reduced to wasteland in response to a deadly rampage by Hamas militants into southern Israel on October 7. 

Hamas, which freed 16 hostages in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, said in a statement that the truce would continue for a seventh day.

The militant group earlier said Israel had refused to receive a further seven women and children and the bodies of three other hostages in exchange for extending the truce.

International pressure has mounted for the ceasefire to continue as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted three quarters of the population of 2.3 million and led to a humanitarian crisis.

Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives. Both sides had said they were ready to resume fighting.

Netanyahu underscored on Wednesday that Israel will resume its campaign to eliminate Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years and orchestrated the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the war.

'After this phase of returning our abductees is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? So my answer is an unequivocal yes,' he said. 'There is no way we are not going back to fighting until the end.' 

He spoke ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to press for further extensions of the truce and hostage releases. Blinken arrived in Israel late Wednesday.

Before the truce, Israel bombarded the territory for seven weeks and killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the coastal strip.

Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives.

However, Israel has vowed to resume the war in an effort to end Hamas' 16-year rule of Gaza, but it's facing mounting international pressure to extend the truce and spare southern Gaza a devastating ground offensive like the one that has demolished much of the north.

Hamas' ability to negotiate and implement the ceasefire suggests that Israel's air and ground campaigns have not seriously challenged the group's control of Gaza, despite killing thousands of Palestinians and driving three out of four people in the territory from their homes.

Those who have been released now face a long road to overcoming the trauma of their extended captivity in Gaza.

The father of Emily Hand, an Irish-Israeli who was held hostage by Hamas for 50 days, has vowed to do 'whatever it takes' to help his nine-year-old daughter recover after revealing how she spent her ninth birthday running from missile strikes in Gaza.

Four days after his daughter's emotional release, Mr Hand told The Sun: 'She was a happy noisy kid, now she whispers. She's been terrorised by terrorists in hell but as her dad it's my job to make it better and I will.'

Blinken had arrived in Tel Aviv earlier on Thursday, his third trip to the region since the October 7 attack, to discuss extending the pause in fighting.

U.S. President Joe Biden was determined to secure the release of all hostages held by Hamas after American Liat Beinin was freed on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. is urging Israel to narrow the zone of combat and clarify where Palestinian civilians can seek safety during any Israeli operation in southern Gaza, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, to prevent a repeat of the massive death toll from Israel's northern Gaza attacks.

Jordan will host a conference attended by the main U.N., regional and international relief agencies on Thursday to coordinate aid to Gaza, official media said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday the Gaza Strip was in the midst of an 'epic humanitarian catastrophe,' and he and others called for a ceasefire to replace the temporary truce.

China called on the Security Council on Thursday to formulate a 'concrete' timetable and roadmap for a two-state solution to achieve a 'comprehensive, just and lasting' settlement of the Palestinian issue.