Islamic Jihad says ready to repel Israeli aggression against Gazans

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has voiced its full readiness to repel any Israeli aggression against residents of the Gaza Strip in reaction to the extension of a humanitarian pause in fighting between fellow Hamas group and Israel.

“Following efforts made through mediation, an agreement was reached to extend the truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip under the same conditions as stated in the prisoner swap deal,” the Gaza-based movement said in a statement released early on Tuesday morning.

The Islamic Jihad added that Palestinian resistance factions sought to protect public interests and receive the largest possible amount of humanitarian aid under the extended truce.

“The Islamic Jihad movement, alongside other resistance forces, is closely monitoring the behavior of the Zionist enemy, and is ready to safeguard national interests and prevent aggression against the Palestinians at any cost,” the statement read.

On Monday, Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter, that the truce deal which originally went into effect on Friday was extended for an additional 48 hours.

“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” al-Ansari wrote.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, said he hoped the truce could be extended further.

During the first three days of the truce, 39 Israeli captives were released by the resistance group in exchange for 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails as part of the deal between Hamas and Israel.

Foreign nationals, including 17 Thai citizens, one Filipino and one dual Russian-Israeli national have also been released by Hamas.

On Monday, in the fourth exchange since the truce came into effect, three Palestinian women and 30 children were freed from Israeli prisons. In exchange, the Red Cross said it has successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 11 Israeli captives held in Gaza.

Israel launched a deadly offensive against the besieged enclave on October 7, after Hamas carried out a surprise large-scale operation dubbed Al-Aqsa Strom into the occupied territories and Israeli settlements.

According to Gaza officials, seven weeks of relentless Israeli attacks in Gaza killed nearly 15,000 Palestinians, more than a third of them children, and displaced at least 1.5 million.