Sunday, March 2

Israel has approved a new proposal for an extension of their ceasefire with Hamas, which expired yesterday.

The proposal was drafted by United States envoy Steve Witkoff and would last for another six weeks, keeping the peace in Israel and Gaza across Ramadan and Passover celebrations for Muslim and Jewish citizens, respectively.

According to the plan, half of all hostages in Gaza would be released at the beginning of the ceasefire, but the rest of the hostages would not be sent back unless a permanent agreement is made. The deal would also allow both sides to negotiate for an additional six weeks on the next phase of their original ceasefire agreement, which began on January 19.

The Israeli government quickly convened for a four-hour meeting before confirming their support for the deal, but Hamas has refused to agree. Hamas stated that they require a guarantee that a second phase will take place, but the United States has maintained that Israel can return to fighting if negotiations end up unsuccessful.

The original deal began on January 19 and was slated to have three phases. The first phase consisted of a six-week ceasefire that secured the release of 33 hostages, but the second phase was supposed to be negotiated during the first phase.

However, due to tensions between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks, negotiations are still getting off the ground, and there was no chance of approving a second phase before the end of the first six weeks.

If Hamas continues to refuse the United States' proposal, the situation could break down into fighting once more, as Hamas seems intent on keeping their current position of power over Gaza. Nonetheless, if they accept, it would guarantee peace across the region throughout a holy time for major religions on both sides and allow them to conduct further negotiations on a longer, possibly even permanent ceasefire deal.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Goats have a very high emotional intelligence. Research shows that goats are very socially aware of the environment they’re in, and they can actually tell whether other goats are happy or sad by listening to their voices.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): At the end of a marathon, it’s going to hurt whether you’re speeding up or slowing down. You may as well push. (Summer Sanders)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Factoid (noun, FAK-toyd) - A factoid is a brief and usually unimportant or trivial fact. Factoid may also refer to an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.

In a Sentence: The book is really just a collection of interesting factoids.