Hamas released two more Israeli women hostages on Thursday with more Palestinian prisoners to be freed under an extended truce that has paused weeks of deadly conflict.
With the current truce set to expire on Friday, international bodies have called for a lasting halt to the violence, sparked by deadly Hamas resistance campaign on Israel that prompted it to mount a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip.
The delicate truce held through its seventh day after a 24-hour extension despite a shooting claimed by Hamas fighters that killed three people in Jerusalem.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to seek a longer pause that would allow further prisoner-hostage exchanges and more aid for displaced civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Thursday at least two women hostages had been returned from Gaza after being released to the Red Cross by Hamas.
More were expected to be transferred "in the next few hours," it said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office named the two as French-Israeli dual national Mia Shem, 21, and Amit Soussana, 40.
Israel is due to release more Palestinian prisoners in turn, after the sides agreed to extend the pause in combat operations until Friday morning.
Only hours after the truce extension, the group claimed responsibility for a shooting in Jerusalem that killed three people and called for an "escalation of the resistance."
The morning attack saw two gunmen from annexed east Jerusalem kill three people and wound eight others at a bus stop in the western part of the city, before two off-duty soldiers and civilians fired at them and "neutralized" them, police said.
International bodies have called for more time to allow medical supplies, food and fuel into the besieged Gaza Strip.
"We have seen over the last week the very positive development of hostages coming home, being reunited with their families," Blinken said at a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
"It's also enabled an increase in humanitarian assistance to go to innocent civilians in Gaza who need it desperately. So, this process is producing results. It's important, and we hope that it can continue."
Blinken later told Netanyahu it was "imperative" to protect civilians in southern Gaza "before any military operations there."
The latest extended truce had been due to end at 0500 GMT on Thursday, but the Israeli army said the "operational pause" would continue as international mediators negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Qatar, which has led the truce negotiations supported by Egypt and the United States, confirmed the pause had been extended for one day "under the same previous conditions."
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas and unleashed an air and ground military campaign that the Hamas government says has killed more than 15,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians.