Hamas must find missing Israeli hostages to extend truce, says Qatar

Efforts to extend a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas depend on the Palestinian militant group locating dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza by other groups and civilians, Qatar's prime minister has said.

A four-day pause in the war brokered by the Gulf state is due to end today, but Hamas said it wants to extend the truce and increase the number of hostages released. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also said the original agreement could be extended.

But Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the Financial Times that more than 40 other women and children were being kept captive in Gaza and that Hamas would need to locate those hostages.

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"If they get additional women and children, there will be an extension," said Sheikh Mohammed. "We don't yet have any clear information how many they can find because… one of the purposes [of the pause] is they [Hamas] will have time to search for the rest of the missing people."

The Israeli government "faces enormous pressure" from the families of hostages, as well as allies, to extend the truce to secure more releases, said The Guardian. Sheikh Mohammed said Netanyahu is willing to extend the temporary truce if "there's proof" that Hamas has more women and children to release, "but nothing beyond that".

Meanwhile, more Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are due to be released today. "One of the points of contention" between Israel and Hamas, said Haaretz, is the six female Palestinian prisoners who were arrested before 7 October and remain in Israeli prisons.

Hamas's attacks on 7 October killed 1,200 people, with about 240 taken hostage, while more than 14,500 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry.