A Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist movement was ready to free 34 Israeli hostages, held captive in the Gaza Strip, during the “first phase” of an agreement with Israel.
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Hamas “agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list provided by Israel in the first phase of a prisoner exchange agreement,” the official said, specifying that the list included “all women, sick, elderly and Israeli children” among the hostages.
“Hamas and resistance groups need about a week of calm to communicate with the kidnappers and identify the [otages] dead or alive,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “contrary to what has been reported, Hamas has still not provided a list of hostages.”
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel resumed this weekend in Qatar with a view to an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza since the attack of the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil on the 7th. October 2023.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, no truce has been concluded since the one-week truce at the end of November 2023.
This truce allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
During the October 7 attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians according to a count based on official figures, 251 people were kidnapped. A total of 96 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
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