At the same time, one day before the agreement expires, efforts are being intensified by the parties involved in negotiations to extend the truce and continue the exchange of hostages and prisoners with Israel and Hamas sending optimistic messages in this direction.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said tonight that he told US President Joe Biden in a phone call that military operations in Gaza would continue “in full force” when the temporary ceasefire ends.

Yet Netanyahu said that would welcome an extension of the ceasefire if it would facilitate the release of another ten hostages a day.

Meanwhile, a source close to Hamas told AFP today that the Palestinian organization “informed the mediators”, namely Qatar and Egypt, that the armed groups holding Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip “agree to extend the ceasefire for two to four days.”

The White House, for its part, announced that Biden and Netanyahu agreed “to continue working to secure the release of all hostages.”

US President Joe Biden said his administration’s goal is to extend the ceasefire in Gaza to continue the safe release of hostages and deliver critical aid to civilians.

During remarks from the White House, Biden said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would remain “personally committed to seeing that this agreement is fully implemented and will also work to extend the agreement.”

Biden said the deal struck between Israel and Hamas was “structured so that it can be extended.”

And US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan earlier said the US was working to extend the four-day ceasefire, but that would ultimately be decided by Hamas.

“It could be another day, two days, or three days, or even longer,” Sullivan told ABC. “The ball is in Hamas’s court because what Israel has said is that it is ready for another day of truce for every 10 hostages that Hamas releases.”

“If the ceasefire ends, the responsibility for that rests on the shoulders of Hamas, not on the shoulders of Israel,” argued the top Biden aide.