By Athena Papakosta

Today is the 4th day of the fragile, temporary, cease-fire in Gaza, during which a total of 54 hostages – not only Israelis, and 117 Palestinian prisoners – have been released so far.

Yesterday, Sunday, Hamas released 14 Israelis and three foreign nationals while Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners.

On Saturday, 13 Israeli and 39 Palestinian prisoners were released, while on Friday, on the first day of the implementation of the agreement between Israel and Hamas, 24 hostages – 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a citizen from the Philippines – were released in exchange for the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners.

Today, Monday, we expect the release of additional hostages – 10 Israeli and 33 Palestinian prisoners so that, as stated in the terms of the agreement, the total number of Israeli hostages will reach 50 and the total number of Palestinians 150.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt, as reported by international media, are making efforts to extend the temporary cessation of hostilities.

The American president, Joe Biden, yesterday expressed his intention for an extension, while, according to the White House, during his telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the two leaders agreed to work to achieve the release of all hostages .

For his part, the Israeli prime minister said he made it clear to the president of the United States that military operations in Gaza will continue when the temporary cease-fire ends, adding, however, that he would welcome an extension if doing so would facilitate the release of another 10 of hostages daily.

At the same time, early Sunday evening, Hamas said it wanted the ceasefire to be extended while increasing the number of those released by both sides. In fact, according to Agence France-Presse, the Islamist Palestinian organization has reportedly informed Doha and Cairo about it.

But analysts predict the ceasefire will not last for many days after it expires tomorrow, Tuesday.

As they explain, Israel insists that its military operations will begin again and recall that before the start of the truce it was also planning operations in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, specifically in the densely populated Khan Yunis where it is estimated that the leader of Hamas, Yahya Shinwar, is hiding and at least thousands of civilians have already taken refuge.

The decision to resume operations will be made by Israel’s cabinet, which has agreed to reconvene after the ceasefire agreement is implemented.

If, according to military analysts, Han Younis is finally targeted, it will take at least a month of operations for the Israeli army to succeed in bringing it under its control.

At the same time, the United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, stressed on Sunday that the White House is holding “constructive talks” with Israel to ensure “that any military operation” takes place after the “civilian issue” is addressed.

For now the fragile truce remains in place and the terms of that agreement are being implemented with Israeli forces remaining in place and Hamas taking advantage of these hours to regroup. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already emphasized, “we are at war and we will continue to be at war.”