Hamas Rejects 4-Hour Truce Extension

Although the Israeli Cabinet approved a 4-hour extension to the 12-hour ceasefire on Saturday (and agreed to consider a further extension), Hamas has rejected the deal. The truce would have been extended to midnight on Saturday, but Sami Abu Zuhri sent a text message to reporters saying, “No agreement to extending the calm for an additional four hours.” The Palestinian death toll in the conflict rose to over 1,000 on Saturday and over 100 bodies were recovered during the ceasefire, according to a Gaza health official. Civilians in Gaza used the ceasefire to gather food supplies, find missing family members, or return to homes they had left behind for shelters. The Israeli death toll in the conflict rose to 42 on Saturday.