Israel-Hamas truce extended following 'world pressure', says Uni of Buckingham professor
The four-day ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas has been extended
Last updated 28th Nov 2023
In an effort to release more hostages, Israel and Hamas agreed to an extension of their original four-day ceasefire.
Qatar has been the third-party nation leading negotiations between both sides, and announced a two-day extension to the truce last night.
Protests continue to take place across the world calling for an end to the war.
Former UN speechwriter and Director of UN Studies at the University of Buckingham, Professor Mark Seddon, said: "There really is a push to try and extend this ceasefire to get all the hostages released by Hamas, and to get people to begin to think about a negotiated settlement to this all."
"The international community now is extremely concerned that corralling a couple of million people into a tiny part of the Gaza strip in the south west is just going to be horrendous."
With hostages still kept on both sides and humanitarian aid struggling to enter the Gaza strip, the ceasefire was essential to attend to the needs of civilians trapped in the conflict.
An increased amount of pressure for an extension to the halt in fighting has been felt from nations across the world, including the UK.
Professor Seddon said: "What is happening is that there is an awful lot of pressure coming from lots of different countries now, but notably, given where Britain has been over the past few weeks, coming from a new Foreign Office Minister, Andrew Mitchell, and a new Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron."
According to Professor Seddon, who has experience analysing international conflict and the inner workings of the United Nations, the only way to put an end to the conflict would be to divide the territory into two separate nations.
"This is just yet another war in Israel and Palestine, and each time it happens it gets worse, and there has to be a solution", he added.