Truce between Israel and Hamas extended by two days: Qatar official

Israel offering a day's pause in fighting for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas

The spokesman for Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that an agreement has been reached to extend the Israel-Hamas truce for another two days.

Qatar, along with Egypt, has been the key mediator in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The announcement comes on the final day of a four-day truce between the warring sides.
 

The truce was due to end on Monday night.

With the release of 11 Israeli hostages expected, negotiations remain ongoing for the release of 33 Palestinians, Rashwan added.
 

Earlier, Hamas was reported to be seeking a four-day extension while Israel wanted day-by-day extensions.
 

An Israeli official reiterated Israel’s position that it would agree to an extra day of truce for the release of each group of 10 hostages. In exchange, three times the number of Palestinian prisoners would be released each time. The limit would be five days, the official added.

The European Union’s foreign police chief, Josef Borrell, said an extension was within reach and this could allow the international community to work on a political solution to the conflict.
 

The truce agreed last week was the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza.
 

In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
 

Wide areas of the Hamas-ruled enclave have been flattened by Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments, and a humanitarian crisis has unfolded as supplies of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run out.
 

On Sunday, Hamas freed 17 people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl, bringing the total number the militant group has released since Friday to 58, including foreigners. Israel freed 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, taking the total number of Palestinians freed under the truce to 117.
 

Bank of Israel holds key interest rate steady amid war
 

The Bank of Israel kept short-term borrowing rates unchanged for a fourth straight decision on Monday as policymakers remained focus on maintaining financial stability during Israel’s war against Hamas.

New crypto front emerges in Hamas’ funding

A new front has emerged in Israel's fight against the funding of Iran-backed militant groups from Hamas to Hezbollah: A fast-growing crypto network called Tron.
 

Quicker and cheaper than its larger rival Bitcoin, Tron has overtaken its rival as a platform for crypto transfers associated with groups designated as terror organisations by Israel, the United States and other countries, according to interviews with seven financial crime experts and blockchain investigations specialists.
 

A Reuters' analysis of crypto seizures announced by Israeli security services since 2021 reflects the trend, showing for the first time a sharp rise in the targeting of Tron wallets and a fall in Bitcoin wallet seizures. “Earlier it was Bitcoin and now our data shows that these terrorist organisations tend to increasingly flavor Tron,” said Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of New York-based blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, citing Tron's faster transaction times, low fees, and stability.

Merkle Science says it counts law enforcement agencies in the United States, Britain and Singapore as clients. Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), which is responsible for such seizures, froze 143 Tron wallets between July 2021 and October 2023 that it believed were connected to a “designated terrorist organisation” or used for a “severe terror crime,” the Reuters analysis found.