November 27, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah speaks at a news conference in London, on Monday, November 27.

A British-Palestinian surgeon who treated patients at hospitals in Gaza estimates that between 700 and 900 children have had limbs amputated since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah said he recently returned to London after spending several weeks at hospitals in the enclave. Speaking at a news conference in London, he described carrying out surgeries on children without any anesthetic or basic medical supplies.

CNN is not able to independently verify those estimated numbers. 

Abu-Sittah said he felt guilty for leaving others behind and said some of his medical colleagues had been killed since he left.

He also rejected claims made by the Israel Defense Forces that Hamas had a command center beneath Al-Shifa hospital.

“I have been working in Shifa on and off at every war since 2009,” he said, adding that in 2014 the International Committee of the Red Cross informed them that Israel had threatened to bomb the hospital, which is the largest in Gaza.

“At no stage — even when I had to gown down to the infamous radiology department with the CT scans and the MRI scans — I have never seen any indication that there was something other than your typical, barely functioning, third-world, governmental hospital,” he said.

The handover of hostages Monday night from Gaza should be complete within the hour, a diplomatic source told CNN Monday.

This comes after the Israeli prime minister’s office said earlier Monday that families of the latest group of hostages expected to be released by Hamas have been notified.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the White House on Monday.

The White House said administration officials “certainly hope” additional Americans will be among those hostages released on Monday by Hamas. 

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said officials were going to be “watching closely to see if any Americans are in that group” of hostages set to be released on Monday.

He also said that they welcomed the announcement from Qatar that the humanitarian pause will be extended through Thursday morning Israel time. He said because of the extension, “Hamas has committed to releasing another 20 women and children over the next two days.”

The White House also said they “hope to see” the pause extended further.

When asked if the president has received any reassurances from his counterparts that Americans will be among the hostages released on Monday, Kirby reiterated that the administration hopes they will be released today but that the White House will not know for sure until they are released and cross the border into Israel.

Kirby said that he was not aware of any additional “hold-ups” for the freeing of more hostages and noted that the “sticking point” today was whether two mothers would be released with their children. He said so far it looks like they will be able to.

Kirby added that the White House does not have any information on the condition of the American hostages still being held and that the administration “won’t breathe a sigh of relief until we know we’ve got today’s hostages out.”

The two-day extension of the truce between Israel and Hamas will not go into effect until the hostages set to be released on Monday are freed, according to Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister.

Regev confirmed that a truce extension had been reached and under the agreement, Hamas would release 10 hostages each day. 

Regev said he believes the hostages released over the next two days would be women and children. 

The senior adviser credited US President Joe Biden for helping arrange the parameters of the deal.

“These were negotiated with the help of President Biden and we thank him for putting his effort and his office behind these arrangements. I don’t think we would have reached the deal without his input,” he said. 

The water level in Sheikh Radwan lake in Gaza has surged to over half its capacity because of significant sewage leakage, Yayha Al-Sarraj Gaza’s municipality director told CNN over the phone on Monday.

The municipality’s director stressed the critical need for fuel to operate generators and pumps at the lake.

Without this “the situation could worsen,” endangering both the area and its residents, particularly if the current conditions persist and rainfall continues to increase, he said.

Situated in the northern region of Gaza near Jabalya camp, Lake Sheikh Radwan, encompassing an area of 21 acres, had significant flooding in 2014 that resulted in extensive water overflow in a nearby residential area.

Hamas said it received a list of Palestinian prisoners that are set to be released on Monday from Israeli detention facilities. The list includes three female prisoners and 30 teenage males. 

117 women and children have so far been released from Israeli prisons: 39 on Friday, 39 on Saturday and 39 on Sunday. 

Qatar announced an agreement has been reached to extend the truce in the Gaza Strip for an additional two days, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Monday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli government for comment.

The announcement comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call with the prime minister of Qatar Monday, according to a source familiar. 

Egypt had said earlier that there were ongoing efforts to extend the pause by two days.

Hamas said it agreed with Qatar and Egypt to extend the truce for an additional two days “under the same conditions reached before.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post said the prime minister of Qatar held a call with President Biden. This has been corrected.

The families of the latest group of hostages expected to be released by Hamas have been notified, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Monday.

Earlier on Monday, the prime minister’s office said Israel has received a list of hostages expected to be released on Monday by Hamas and “discussions are underway” about it. 

A group of Israelis watch as a helicopter carrying hostages released from Gaza lands at the helipad of the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel, on November 26.

Israel, Hamas and the US, mediated by Qatar, are actively discussing the possibility of extending the four-day truce by an additional two days, two sources tell CNN. 

The original deal of a four-day truce to secure the release of 50 women and children was struck with the understanding that the cessation in fighting could be extended by additional days if Hamas was able to produce additional hostages, as CNN has previously reported.

Ten more hostages would grant Hamas one additional day in the pause.  

Israeli and US officials believed that there were more women and children being held in captivity than 50, but agreed to the terms of the deal as Hamas insisted that it needed to use the pause in fighting to gather up additional hostages. 

It was unclear as of Monday morning what information Hamas had offered on additional hostages. 

The issues surrounding the fourth release of hostages are close to being resolved, three sources familiar tell CNN.

There is a new list that includes additional mothers who were not on earlier versions of the list of names, which Israelis protested against, another source said.

Multiple sources indicate to CNN that while the parties involved have been working through outstanding issues related to Monday’s list, day four of the hostage release is on track to take place later today.

An International Red Cross vehicle carrying Israeli Russian hostage Ron Kriboy, released by Hamas, drives towards the Rafah border point with Egypt ahead of a transfer to Israel on November 26.

A Russian-Israeli hostage who managed to escape from Hamas was recaptured and returned to the militants, before being finally released on Sunday, his aunt has said.

Roni Kriboy was abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas terror attack on October 7, and was then held at a building in Gaza, Yelena Magid told Israeli radio station Kan Reshet B on Monday.

The 25-year-old dual national managed to escape when the building was bombed, but after hiding out for a few days, he was caught and returned to Hamas, Magid said during a call to the radio station.

“He said that he was kidnapped by terrorists and they brought him inside some building,” she said.

“I understood from the bombings, the building collapsed and he managed to escape from there… and for several days he hid there and was alone and in the end the Gazans caught him and returned him to the hands of the terrorists,” Magid added.

Kriboy suffered a head injury when the building he was being held in collapsed, but is doing fine now, Magid told the radio station.

Read more about the Russian-Israeli hostage who escaped from Hamas, but was found and returned by Gazans.

The truce between Israel and Hamas is well into its fourth and potentially final day and there is mounting pressure on both sides to extend the pause in fighting.

Since Friday, Hamas has so far released 58 hostages, and Israel has freed 117 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.

But while Israel and Hamas may both be willing to extend the truce, doing so will be fraught with difficulties.

Logistical problems: Not all of the roughly 240 people taken into Gaza during the October 7 attack on Israel are, or were, being by Hamas, the militant group that launched the assault. More than 40 of the hostages are being held by groups other than Hamas, a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations told CNN.

CNN has previously reported that between 40 and 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other militant groups.

The truce agreement requires Hamas – and not another group – to hand over hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. And so even if Hamas is willing to extend the truce, it may struggle to locate additional hostages. Coordinating their release may also be difficult, as communications in Gaza have been degraded by Israeli airstrikes.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani – who helped broker the initial agreement – told the Financial Times that any extension to the fighting rests on Hamas being able to find more hostages.

Strategic problems: Extending the truce in exchange for the release of more hostages could also pose strategic problems for both Israel and Hamas.

For Hamas, the holding of hostages presents the only real leverage they have over Israel. The promise to release hostages has been the only thing that caused Israel to relent in seven weeks of fighting.

Hamas may soon up its price, demanding that the pauses in fighting be longer, or that the number of Palestinian prisoners released be greater, in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. There is likely to be a limit to the number of hostages Hamas will be willing to free, since it will be unwilling to surrender the leverage it has over Israel.

For Israel, the truce agreement has allowed it to take steps toward achieving one of its war aims: Securing the release of Israeli hostages. But extending the truce further might make its ultimate war aim – of destroying Hamas – harder to achieve.

Releasing all the hostages was found to be a more important war aim than toppling Hamas, according to a survey of Israelis carried out by the Israel Democracy Initiative before the announcement of the truce agreement last week. But the Israeli government has stressed it is committed to achieving both aims.

Every day there is a pause in fighting gives Hamas more time to regroup, ahead of a potential expansion of fighting into the south of the Gaza Strip. Under the initial truce agreement, Israel and the United States agreed to pause surveillance drone flights over Gaza – something Israel was reluctant to do, since it would mean losing track of the movements of Hamas fighters.

And so, while extending the truce might further one of Israel’s war aims, it delays and potentially frustrates the other.

CNN’s Becky Anderson contributed reporting to this post.

Monday is the fourth — and possibly final — day of the truce between Israel and Hamas. But today’s hostage handover is throwing up a few challenges.

There are a number of ongoing issues, three sources briefed on the discussions said, including ensuring that children on the list are not released without their mothers or grandmothers who might also be in captivity. As part of the deal, family members are not meant to be separated during the release. That deal was already violated when Hamas released one hostage without her mother on Saturday, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. 

Israel, Hamas and the United States, mediated by Qatar, are currently working through those issues, according to the sources.

While 58 hostages have been released from Gaza since Friday, including 4-year-old American-Israeli Abigail Edan, it is unclear whether additional American hostages will be released from Gaza on Monday, the White House said.

There is also the possibility that the truce could be extended beyond Monday, with both sides indicating their interest in continuing the pause in fighting. No such deal has been announced, but the agreed-upon truce already includes a provision for an extension of one extra day for every 10 hostages Hamas is ready to free.

Here’s what you need to know now:

Israel, Hamas and the US, mediated by Qatar, are currently working through outstanding issues with the latest list of hostages set to be released Monday – the last day of the four-day pause agreed to by Israel and Hamas for the release of 50 hostages, according to three sources briefed on the discussions.

There are a number of ongoing issues, the sources said, including ensuring that children on the list are not released without their mothers or grandmothers who might also be in captivity. As part of the deal, family members are not meant to be separated during the release. That deal was already violated when Hamas released one hostage without her mother on Saturday, according to an IDF spokesman. 

As of Monday morning, there was conflicting information about the status of who would be released on the fourth day. One Israeli source said no mothers were on the list but two other sources familiar with the matter said at least one mother was included, just not the full group of mothers anticipated. The conflicting information is a sign of how fluid the status of Monday’s list of hostages appears to be.

Two American women had also been expected to be released on Monday but that also appears to be uncertain, according to the sources.

“We just don’t know right now,” John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesperson, told CNN. 

“We’ll have a better sense I think, later on this morning of who is going to be in this next batch coming up today. We obviously hope that those two American women are on that list and that will be reunited with their families today. That is certainly our hope. We are working on this literally by the hour,” he said.

Over the past three days, Hamas had released 39 hostages as part of the deal so at least 11 would be expected to be freed on Monday. Israel has also released more than 100 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the deal.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on November 26.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported the delivery of 150 trucks of aid to northern Gaza, spanning from the start of the truce on Friday until Sunday evening.

The aid in the trucks includes food, water, baby formula and blankets, the PRCS stated, adding that this assistance would benefit thousands of people in desperate need.

The deal between Israel and Hamas has laid the ground for the release of at least 50 women and children held captive in Gaza in exchange for the release of at least 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons. 

As we go into the fourth day of the truce, this is what we have seen so far: 

Israeli hostages: 40 Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas: 13 on Friday, 13 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. 

Some of them are dual nationals, including 4-year-old Abigail Edan, who is a US-Israeli citizen.

Those released include: 

In an update released Monday, Israeli prime minister’s office said an estimated 198 people are currently held captive in Gaza. About 20 of them are foreign nationals, the Israeli foreign ministry told CNN on Monday. However, Israeli estimates continue to change as the information available to them changes. CNN cannot independently verify this information.

Foreign hostages: 18 foreign nationals, including 17 Thai nationals and 1 Filipino citizen. 

These 18 foreign nationals freed from Gaza were released as part of separate negotiations and are not included in the Israel-Hamas deal. 

Prisoners released from Israel: 117 women and children have so far been released from Israeli prisons: 39 on Friday, 39 on Saturday and 39 on Sunday. 

The total released included: 

Of all the Palestinian prisoners released, 41 had been tried and sentenced and 76 were in administrative detention, meaning they did not know the charges against them and were not involved in a legal process of charging or trial. 

The original Israel-Hamas deal says that the truce will continue for four days as long as Hamas releases at least 10 Israeli hostages each day. 

CNN’s Lauren Izso, Abeer Salman, Tamar Michaelis, Matthew Chance and Richard Allen Greene contributed to this reporting.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, talks to CNN on November 27.

It’s not clear if additional American hostages will be released from Gaza on Monday, the White House said, on the fourth and possibly final day of a truce between Israel and Hamas. 

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told CNN’s Phil Mattingly Monday morning we “don’t know” if two American women were set to be released later Monday and that the administration was working on the situation “literally by the hour.” 

“We’ll have a better sense I think later on this morning who’s going to be in this next batch coming out today,” Kirby said.

He also couldn’t say if any American hostages were being held by other groups and that the administration doesn’t “have perfect visibility as to where they are and who’s exactly holding them.” 

“But we have to keep open the possibility that some other groups other than Hamas might be holding some of those additional Americans,” he added.

Asked about Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy’s comments that he was open to placing conditions on any aid to Israel, Kirby called it a “worthwhile thought” but suggested conditions could have limited the outcomes the US has been able to achieve with the Israelis. 

“If we actually executed on something like that, we wouldn’t have had the results that we’ve been able to see so far,” Kirby said.

This undated photo released by Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters shows Chen Goldstein-Almog, a 48-year-old social worker.

The brother of an Israeli hostage who was released Sunday together with two of her children described Monday how his sister knew, while she was being held hostage in Gaza, that her husband and daughter had been murdered on October 7.

“I’m very happy to inform everybody that my sister Chen Goldstein-Almog and the three kids Agam, Gal, and Tal are back with us and they feeling good and well,” Chen’s brother Omri Almog said in a short video released by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

Chen Goldstein-Almog’s daughter Yam was 20 years old when she was killed. Her husband Nadav was 48 years old.

The age of Goldstein-Almog’s daughter Yam was updated to reflect the latest information provided by family members.

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a debate on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on November 22.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has called for a “long-lasting” truce between Israel and Hamas.

The initial four-day truce was an “important first step” towards a “political solution,” the EU’s top diplomat said at the 8th Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Forum in Barcelona, Spain.

“Tomorrow, the suspension of operations will end. Perhaps it will last a few more days. But we have to start thinking, how do we continue the political process from today,” Borrell added.

The Spaniard condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel but said that “the way Israel exercises its right to defense matters” while highlighting the “highly disproportionate death toll” and civilian suffering in Gaza.

Palestinians walk among the rubble as they inspect houses destroyed by Israeli strikes, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on November 27.

The fragile pause in Israel’s onslaught against Hamas in Gaza, which has enabled the release so far of 58 hostages, has been surprisingly enduring given that neither side is in direct contact and each is bent on obliterating the other.

The question now is how long the intersection of interests that led to the deal will prevail, allowing the return of more of those abducted in the Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the entry into Gaza of more trucks of desperately needed aid.

While Americans celebrated Thanksgiving, a rush of developments in the Middle East led to emotional reunions among hostages and their families.

But the plight of the majority still in captivity and that of Palestinian civilians underscored the brutal toll of the war. And with President Joe Biden back in Washington after his holiday weekend in Nantucket, Massachusetts, medium- and longer-term factors are coming into view that suggest the fighting could soon be raging again – and become even more intractable and costly.

Still, hopes are rising that after the agreed four-day span of releases, the deal will not end as scheduled on Monday.

Read Collinson’s full analysis: US pushes for extension of Gaza pause, but the possibility of war raging again looms large

Palestinians flock to markets and shops during the second day of the humanitarian pause in Khan Younis, Gaza, on November 25.

An aid worker living in Gaza told CNN on Sunday that the pause in fighting has given people the opportunity to “walk safely in the streets,” check on their family members and homes, and grieve the loss of loved ones. 

“This is the first time since seven weeks we were able to walk safely in the streets, sleep safely, be in the streets without having that feeling you might get bombed at any second,” Yousef Hammash, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council, told CNN’s Alex Marquardt. 

Hammash, who has two children, said the past few days have allowed him to seek supplies for his family ahead of the winter months, however four days is not enough. “It’s an impossible mission” and “what we need is massive” in terms of humanitarian aid, he said, calling on the international community to reach a permanent peace agreement. 

Remember: Both Israel and Hamas have expressed interest in extending the truce, a move which has the support of key nations, including the United States and Qatar.

The agreed upon truce already includes a provision for an extension of one extra day for every 10 hostages Hamas is ready to free.

No such deal has been announced yet.

More than 40 of the hostages taken from Israel into Gaza on October 7 are not currently held by Hamas, the group that launched the attack, a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations told CNN Monday.

That creates a complication because the truce agreement calls for Hamas to hand over hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel – which means Hamas must have the hostages to hand over.

CNN has previously reported that an estimated 40 to 50 of the hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other groups or individuals. That was before the handover of hostages began on Friday. So far, 58 hostages – 40 Israelis (some of whom are dual nationals), 17 Thai citizens and one Philippine citizen – have been freed.

Separately, the source said there was a slight issue with Monday’s lists of hostages and prisoners to be freed which was likely to delay Monday’s hostage release. The source did not say what the issue was, but said Qatar, the main intermediary that brokered the truce, was working with both sides to resolve it.

Elon Musk attends the AI Safety Summit 2023 at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, UK, on November 1.

Elon Musk is expected to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday during a visit to Israel, according to the president’s office. 

During the meeting with Musk, owner of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Herzog will emphasize the need to combat rising antisemitism online, the president’s office said in a statement.

Representatives of families of hostages held by Hamas are also expected to join the meeting, where they will share “the horrors of the Hamas terror attack on October 7, and of the ongoing pain and uncertainty for those held captive,” the president’s office added.

The meeting comes after Musk ignited fierce backlash over his endorsement of an antisemitic post on X that accused Jewish people of inciting “hatred” against White people.

Israel has received a list of hostages expected to be released by Hamas on Monday and “discussions are underway” about it, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement.

“Discussions are being held on the list that was received overnight and which is now being evaluated in Israel,” the office said in a statement on behalf of the government coordinator for the hostages and missing persons.

Monday is the fourth, and potentially final, day of the initially negotiated truce between Hamas and Israel. As of Sunday both parties had discussed the possibility of extending the truce, but no such deal has been announced yet.

Palestinians walk through destruction in Gaza City on November 24, as the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect.

As the truce between Hamas and Israel enters its fourth and final day Monday, both parties have discussed the possibility of extending it, a move which has the support of key nations, including the US and Qatar.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Hamas said it wants “to extend the truce after the four-day period ends, through serious efforts to increase the number of those released from imprisonment as stipulated in the humanitarian ceasefire agreement.”

The agreed upon truce already includes a provision for an extension of one extra day for every ten hostages Hamas is ready to free.

While Israel’s war cabinet discussed the possibility of an extension on Sunday evening, a source told CNN, those conditions for one, as outlined in the initial truce, remain unchanged.

Earlier this weekend, Qatar, which played a central role in mediating the original agreement, said it too was hoping to extend the truce.

In a news conference Sunday, US President Joe Biden also expressed wanting to extend the pause in fighting to try to ensure the safe release of more hostages and to get critical aid to civilians in the enclave.

If you’re just joining us, here are other key headlines:

First American freed: Among the 17 hostages released Sunday was 4-year-old American-Israeli Abigail Edan whose release marks the first time an American hostage has been successfully freed since the start of the truce. Biden praised Edan’s release in an address and spoke with her family Sunday afternoon, according to the White House. Officials released a full list of the freed hostages’ names and ages. They include two mothers with their children and a pair of siblings.

Palestinian prisoners released: Thirty-nine prisoners and detainees from a total of seven Israeli prisons were released Sunday as part of the reciprocal deal, the Israel Prison Service confirmed. The group is made up of boys aged 18 and younger; two are 15, and one — the youngest released — is 14. Twenty-three of those released had been held under administrative detention, a widely criticized practice in which a detainee is unaware of any charges against them, and their case is not subject to any legal process.

Aid enters Gaza: At least 120 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah border on Sunday, the Egyptian government confirmed. The delivery of aid to Gaza has been a key factor in sustaining the truce and exchanges between Israel and Hamas.

Hostages leave hospital: Some Israelis from the first wave of released hostages — members of two families — have been discharged from the Schneider Children’s Medical Hospital in Israel. They are the first former hostages to be discharged.

Palestinians killed in West Bank: Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank over the course of 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Sunday. CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces for comment about the killings.

Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 28.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Biden on Sunday that the possibility of extending the truce with Hamas would be “welcome” in return for the further release of 10 hostages per day from Gaza. 

Netanyahu said he told Biden that if and when the truce expires, Israel “will go to realizing our goals with full force: Eliminating Hamas, ensuring that Gaza will not go back to being what it was and – of course – releasing all of our hostages.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu visited Israeli troops inside the Gaza Strip, where he vowed, “we will continue until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us.”

In the statement released later Sunday he said: “After being today in Gaza and I met with our soldiers, our heroes, and courageous our reservists and soldiers, with fire in their eyes, I am convinced that we’ll succeed, because we have no other choice.”

Thai citizens who were released from Gaza stand together during a visit by Ambassador of Thailand in Israel, Pannabha Chandraramya, in Be'er Ya'akov, Israel on November 26.

Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday they have received confirmation of the release of three more Thai nationals from Gaza on Sunday. 

The three former hostages are at a designated medical center where the Royal Thai Embassy officials are on hand to contact their families, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. 

The ministry said it is working to bring back the 17 Thai nationals released so far from Gaza. 

It thanked “all parties involved in the efforts towards this latest release” and said it continues to exert “all efforts” towards the safe release of the remaining 15 Thai nationals still being held by Hamas. 

Houses destroyed in Israeli strikes are seen in Gaza on November 26, as the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect.

Hamas says it wants to extend its four-day truce with Israel, which has now seen the release of three groups of Israeli hostages from Gaza and three groups of Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Israeli jails.

Israel’s war cabinet discussed the possibility of extending the temporary truce when it met Sunday evening, an Israeli source told CNN.

The source said conditions for an extension remain unchanged from the original agreement: Hamas would need to release an additional 10 hostages for each additional day’s pause in the fighting.

Support from key nations: Qatar, which played a central role in mediating the original agreement, said it too was hoping to extend the truce.

US President Joe Biden also expressed wanting to extend the pause in fighting during remarks Sunday.

Biden said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will remain “personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal, as well. For weeks I’ve been advocating the pause in the fighting for two purposes: to increase the assistance getting in to the Gaza civilians who need help, and to facilitate the release of hostages.”

A bus carrying Palestinian teenagers released from Israeli prisons arrived in the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday evening local time.

Earlier, Israel’s Prison Service confirmed it had released 39 prisoners and detainees from a total of seven Israeli prisons (six in Israel and one in the occupied West Bank), as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas that also saw the militant group release hostages today.

The group released Sunday included boys aged 18 and younger; two are 15 years old, and one, the youngest released, is 14.

They were welcomed in Ramallah by hundreds of well-wishers, some waving Palestinian flags, others carrying the flag of Hamas. 

Some were detained without knowing their charge: Sixteen of those released were serving sentences, mostly for attacks on Israelis, according to information drawn from the Israeli Prison Service and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, a non-governmental organization advocating for prisoners’ rights.

The remaining 23 released had been held under administrative detention, a widely criticized practice in which a detainee is unaware of any charges against them, and their case is not subject to any legal process.

An undated handout photo of Keren Munder and her son Ohad. 

Freed Israeli hostage Keren Munder and her family endured days with only pita bread to eat during her captivity in Gaza, her cousin Merav Mor Raviv told journalists Sunday.

Munder and her mother each lost 12 or more pounds in weight due to the lack of regular nutrition, Mor Raviv said, adding, “They were eating — but not regularly.”

Their diet in captivity included a lot of rice and bread, she added. 

Munder, her mother and 9-year-old son were released Friday by Hamas. 

Adva Adar, granddaughter of 85-year-old Yafa Adar, who was also freed Friday, said her grandmother had also lost weight during her nearly 50 days in Gaza. 

Adar had kept track of the days as a hostage and was aware how long she had been a prisoner when she was released, her granddaughter said. 

“We were asked to let her share whatever she feels comfortable sharing, and not to ask a lot of questions, so she wouldn’t feel obligated (to answer), or that it wouldn’t be too much for her,” Adva Adar said of the instructions the family had received regarding her grandmother’s first days of freedom. 

Adar said her grandmother thought more of her family had been killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks, and only discovered they were alive when she was out of Hamas’ hands.  

Yafa Adar’s house was destroyed in the fighting on October 7, her granddaughter said. 

US President Joe Biden welcomed the release of 4-year-old American-Israeli citizen Abigail Edan, who is now free after some 50 days held hostage in Gaza. 

“Today she’s free, and Jill and I — together with so many Americans — are praying for the fact that she is going to be alright,” he continued, referring to first lady Jill Biden.

Having arrived in Israel, Biden said Edan is receiving love, care and “the supportive services she needs.” 

Edan was the youngest American hostage, according to officials.

Biden said the 4-year-old girl “has been through a terrible trauma.” Her mother, he said, was killed in front of her. She then ran to her father, Biden said, who used his body to shield his daughter and was also killed. 

He did not have details on Edan’s condition.

“She is safely ensconced in Israel, but there’s a lot more work to be done,” he said.

Biden added that he was “hopeful this is not the end” of the temporary truce.

Remember: Israel and Hamas reached a deal last week for a four-day pause in fighting and the release of at least 50 women and children held hostage in Gaza.

The deal involved hostages who were held captive by Hamas being released in exchange for a number of Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails. The truce, meanwhile, also allowed the entry of “a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid.” The first release of hostages and prisoners took place on Friday, with others taking place Saturday and Sunday.