WASHINGTON, United States: The four-day truce reached by Hamas and Israel should allow the release of more than the 50 hostages which the warring parties said would be freed by Hamas, a senior US official said late Tuesday.

“We do anticipate it’ll be more than 50, but I just don’t want to put a number on it,” the official said of the hostages held by the Palestinian group in besieged Gaza whose release has been negotiated.

“We believe there are more than 50 women and children being held and the whole concept here is to have them all come out,” the official added.

President Joe Biden’s administration hopes that a truce in Gaza will lead to a “full pause” in fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border, a senior US official said late Tuesday.

“We also hope that this (agreed four-day truce between Israel and Hamas) will lead to a full pause in some of the hostilities in the north, on the Lebanese border,” the US official said on condition of anonymity.