Photo/Illutration An Israeli ambulance is seen leaving the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, in Israel, on Nov. 24. A four-day cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war has begun in Gaza as part of an agreement that Qatar helped broker. Twenty-four hostages were freed on Nov. 24 after seven weeks of captivity. The group included 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thai citizens and a Filipino citizen. Israel was expected to release 39 Palestinian prisoners later that day. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A glimmer of hope, brought by the latest Israel-Hamas agreement to extend a cease-fire by another two days, must not be extinguished.

To prevent further bloodshed, the international community must keep striving in unison to secure a permanent truce.

During the first four days of the truce, Hamas released 50 Israeli hostages as agreed upon, while Israel freed 150 Palestinian women and children from among more than 7,000 who are believed to be held in Israel.

Although the hostage exchanges faced setbacks such as delays and Israeli bombardment of Gaza, we welcome the fact that both parties kept their promises, which has resulted in their latest truce extension agreement.

And we hope the United States, Qatar and Egypt will continue to mediate and urge Israel and Hamas to continue negotiating.

Hamas has freed about 70 hostages of Israeli and other nationalities, and we were vastly relieved to see images of their reunions with their loved ones.

Hamas will reportedly release another 20 during the extended cease-fire. But that still leaves about 150 who have yet to regain their freedom.

Hostage-taking is a war crime. Hamas must let all of them go.

Should the conflict resume after the truce extension, we can't even begin to imagine the despair of unreleased hostages and their families. There is no need for the Israeli government to commit to its Cabinet decision to limit the  cease-fire to up to 10 days.

We remind the Israeli government to never forget that its top-priority commitment must be to protect the lives of its citizens.

For the first time in about 50 days since the armed conflict began, Gaza residents were freed from the terror of Israeli airstrikes and bombings.

However, the death toll is already nearing 15,000. Supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel have dried up, and the medical system has all but collapsed. Gaza is in a state of a dire humanitarian crisis.

Thanks to the cease-fire, about 200 trucks have been arriving in Gaza daily with what the United Nations says is the largest-ever shipment of humanitarian relief supplies.

But considering that 500 trucks were entering into Gaza every day before the outbreak of the conflict, the volume of goods coming in today is nowhere near enough to remedy the state of destruction that is described as "hell on earth."

Winter is coming soon, bringing icy rains. Amid the deteriorating sanitary conditions, the spread of infectious diseases is a serious concern. We believe the cease-fire must continue, if only for the sake of preventing the death toll from rising.

The U.N. Security Council has remained dysfunctional of late due to conflict between the United States and Europe on one side and China and Russia on the other. But despite that, the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding a humanitarian truce that will last for "a sufficient number of days."

Cease-fire negotiations among the nations concerned must be supported by the entire international community, including China, Russia and Japan. And we would love that to lead to a revival of international collaboration.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 29