All sides confirm 24-hour truce extension

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed on Monday to extend a temporary ceasefire in Gaza by 24 hours to conduct more talks on a long-term truce, Egypt and a Palestinian official said late Monday.

The five-day ceasefire had been set to expire at midnight local time (2100 GMT) on Monday.

“Both sides have agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire,” the official with the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said.

The official Egyptian MENA news agency later quoted an “official Egyptian statement” confirming the ceasefire’s extension.

Israeli diplomatic sources later confirmed that the ceasefire would be extended by 24 hours, “at Egypt’s request.”

The negotiations center on an Egyptian proposal that meets some of the Palestinian demands, such as easing the blockade of Gaza, but defer other stumbling blocks to later negotiations.

Hamas had repeatedly warned it would not extend the ceasefire, pressing for immediate gains that would allow it to claim concessions from Israel after the devastating four-week war in July and August.

But the militant group has come under pressure from both Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt, which borders Gaza to the west.

Hamas negotiator Izzat al-Rishq later confirmed to Al-Jazeera that the ceasefire has been extended by 24 hours under Egyptian pressure, but said that no progress has been made in talks with Israel.

He said that principles presented by Al-Jazeera as forming the basis of an agreement include “misinformation and confusion.”

— AFP, Raphael Ahren, Elhanan Miller