Qatar on the Release of the Kidnapped: "First children and women, then soldiers"

A day after the extension of the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Majed Al-Ansari, held a press conference today (Tuesday) in which he said that his country is working to extend the cease-fire again beyond the two days agreed upon last night.

"We are working from the first day to extend the truce to a final ceasefire," Al-Ansari said. "In the next 48 hours, we will focus on further extending the ceasefire, but this depends on Hamas confirming that it can release a larger number of hostages."

However, Al-Ansari claimed that "we cannot verify the number of abductees remaining in the hands of Hamas, beyond the 20 that will be released today and tomorrow. At this stage the priority is to release the children and women first, then the civilians, and then - the soldiers."