Spectators wearing Israeli flags stand outside the Schneider medical centre, where it is believed some of the released hostages may be brought, on Nov. 24, 2023, in Petah Tikva, Israel. A four-day ceasefire began between Israel and Hamas began this morning, although Israeli forces remain in Gaza. (Erik Marmor/Getty Images/TNS)

Israel and Hamas signaled that a temporary cease-fire in Gaza could be extended beyond Monday to allow for the release of more hostages and prisoners.

U.S. President Joe Biden backed prolonging the war pause, saying it’s allowing for the delivery of “critically needed” aid to Gaza and the recovery of hostages, after another 17 were released by Hamas on Sunday. They included a four-year-old girl, a U.S.-Israeli dual national whose parents were killed by Hamas militants in their Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

A four-day pause brokered by Qatar, which began Friday, provides for Hamas to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Israeli-held prisoners — and for Israel to hold its fire for each day that Hamas frees 10 more captives. Hamas has handed over 58 hostages through Sunday.

“This deal is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results,” Biden told reporters. “That’s my goal.”

Hamas released a statement on Telegram late Sunday saying it seeks to “extend the truce after the end of the four-day period.” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military is preparing for the next stage of fighting, but hopes “we can bring home as many hostages as possible before that happens.”

Israel’s war cabinet is meeting Sunday to discuss a possible extension of the ceasefire.

Biden and other officials said they hoped to extend the pause in fighting, in which about 15,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Hamas, which the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist group, killed about 1,200 people and took some 240 others hostage in its attack.

Biden celebrated the return of Abigail Idan, the girl released Sunday.

“One of our fellow Americans, a little girl named Abigail turned 4 years old — she spent her birthday, that birthday, and at least 50 days before that held hostage by Hamas,” Biden said in Nantucket, the Massachusetts island where he spent the Thanksgiving holidays. “She’s free and she’s in Israel now.”

“What she endured is unthinkable,” he said.

The civilian death toll in Gaza is causing increased concern among Democratic politicians in the U.S., with some calling for conditioning further military aid to Israel on compliance with international humanitarian law.

Released on Saturday were 13 Israelis or dual citizens, three foreign nationals and a Russian passport holder, in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners let go later. Hamas said Sunday it was freeing a dual Israeli-Russian hostage “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause.”

Israel has freed 117 Palestinian women and minors held in its prisons over the past three days.

The releases made in several stages are key to a deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt that’s brought a pause of fighting in the more than six-week war and allowed the flow of further humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza.

The humanitarian pause in Gaza has “largely held” since going into effect Friday, allowing the United Nations to boost the delivery of crucial aid into and across Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an update.

Israel said Sunday that 200 aid trucks entered Gaza, 42 of them with material for shelters. The military said a total of 2,000 aid trucks have been allowed into the strip since the war began.

Even so, the UN agency said many people still have no food or cooking fuel and that bakeries aren’t operating, raising concerns about nutrition, especially in northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. It also reported that Israeli forces had arrested Palestinians traveling along the Israeli-designated safe “corridor” from the territory’s north to south.

Israel’s defense forces warned on Sunday that civilians in Gaza are prohibited from entering the sea or to approach within 1 kilometer of the border with Israel.

The defense ministry said Israel’s army has seized about 5 million shekels ($1.3 million) from Hamas during the ground invasion. Iraqi, Jordanian and U.S. currencies have been found primarily in Hamas strongholds and suspects’ homes.

At least seven Palestinians were killed in a missile attack by Israeli forces on the occupied West Bank, the Voice of Palestine radio station reported. Israel’s army hasn’t commented on the events. Separately, Israeli missiles struck Syria’s international airport in Damascus, knocking it out of service, the state-run SANA news agency reported.

Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, during which they agreed to continue working on securing the release of all hostages. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel this week, his fourth visit since Oct. 7, Israeli media reported.

—With assistance from Alicia Diaz.