DOHA: Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it would use a two-day extension to a humanitarian pause in Gaza to work towards a "sustainable truce" between Israel and Hamas.
"Our main focus right now, and our hope, is to reach a sustainable truce that will lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end... to this war," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told a Doha news conference.
"However, we are working with what we have. And what we have right now is the provision to the agreement that allows us to extend days as long as Hamas is able to guarantee the release of at least 10 hostages."
Qatar has been engaged in intense negotiations, with support from Egypt and the United States, to establish and extend a truce in Gaza, and has previously said that it was designed to be broadened and expanded.
The Gulf state announced late on Monday that successful talks had resulted an a two-day extension to the truce.
Over the initial four-day pause, which had been due to expire on Monday night, a total of 50 civilian hostages -- all women and children -- were freed in return for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Ansari confirmed the truce would continue with the release of 20 further hostages. "We are hopeful that in the next 48 hours we will be getting more information from Hamas regarding the rest of the hostages," he added.
The spokesman said "minimal breaches" in recent days had not "harmed the essence of the agreement".
Qatar has led parallel negotiations with other nations which led to the release of 17 Thais, one Filipino and one dual Russian-Israeli national.
Meanwhile, US and Israeli intelligence chiefs have arrived in Doha to discuss the "next phase" of a deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, a source briefed on the visit said on Tuesday.
The leaders of the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad were scheduled to meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, the source said, adding that Egyptian officials were also taking part.
"The director of the CIA and the director of the Israeli National Intelligence Agency are in Doha to meet with the Qatari prime minister," the source said.
The informed source said CIA director Bill Burns and Mossad head David Barnea would hold a "series of meetings" initiated by prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani in Doha "to discuss the potential terms of a deal beyond the two-day extension". — AFP
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