Zionist Regime Agrees to Extend Ceasefire in Gaza

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The Zionist regime agreed early Sunday to a proposal by Steve Whitkoff, the U.S. representative in the West Asia region, for a temporary ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan and Passover.

The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime, announced its agreement to this temporary ceasefire hours after the end of the first phase of the previously agreed-upon ceasefire.

According to Whitkoff's proposal, on the first day of the ceasefire, half of the prisoners, both dead and alive, will be released, and the remaining prisoners will be freed after a permanent ceasefire is established.

Netanyahu's office stated that Whitkoff proposed the temporary ceasefire after realizing that more time was needed for negotiations to achieve a permanent ceasefire.

Earlier, Hazem Qassem, the spokesperson for Hamas, without directly referring to the U.S. plan to extend the ceasefire, said that the movement opposes the Israeli proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire.

The Zionist regime also stated that if Hamas accepts Whitkoff's proposal, it is ready to quickly enter negotiations.

Hamas has announced that the remaining Israeli prisoners in Gaza will only be released through negotiations and that the regime's resort to military actions will not lead to their release.

According to the agreed-upon ceasefire and prisoner exchange phase, which lasted 42 days, 33 Israeli prisoners were released from Gaza in exchange for the release of approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

According to Reuters, talks to extend the agreement have continued in Cairo and Doha but have not yet yielded tangible results.