Netanyahu’s advisor said that the truce would be extended for every day that Hamas released ten “live” hostages.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN that Israel’s position on any extension of the humanitarian truce to the fighting is “very clear.”
Regev said: “We agree every day to extend the release of 10 hostages, 10 hostages alive.” He added, “If Hamas continues to release hostages at a rate of ten per day, we will extend the freeze and stop period.”
In response to a question about whether the fighting would resume within the next 24 hours, Regev said: “If Hamas does not meet the conditions for the extension, which is the release of 10 Israelis, then the fighting can resume, of course.”
Regev said there are still at least 140 hostages inside Gaza. He added that Israel accepted the current agreement for a humanitarian truce “to extract our hostages, which can be extended every day by one day.”
When asked about negotiations on future agreements, Regev said: “This is a humanitarian truce in our battle against Hamas. Israel is determined to destroy Hamas’ military machine and its rule over Gaza.”
“We will not play with the lives of our people,” Regev said. “Hamas knows what the parameters of the agreement are.”