Israel claimed Monday that it had not been informed by Hamas of the conditions in which the 34 hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip are found, whom the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group said the day before it was ready to release in the first phase of a possible agreement.
“Israel has not yet received confirmation or response from Hamas on the conditions in which the hostages mentioned on the list are found,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
A Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Islamist terrorist group had “agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners, from a list provided by Israel, in the first phase of a prisoner exchange agreement.”
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“The list of hostages that was published in the media was not provided by Israel to Hamas, but initially by Israel to the (negotiations) mediators in July 2024,” the Prime Minister’s Office responded.
The Hamas official indicated that the list of 34 hostages, since released by certain media, included “all women, the sick, children and the elderly” among the Israeli hostages.
“Hamas and the resistance groups need about a week of calm to communicate with the kidnappers and identify the (hostages) dead or alive,” he added.
Protesters hold candles and cut-out portraits of hostages held in Gaza during a demonstration calling for action to secure their release, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
After the publication by the Saudi media of the list of 34 hostages likely to be released, the Forum of Families of Hostages and the Missing urged Monday to conclude an agreement guaranteeing the release of all the captives.
“The families of the hostages are distressed by the list published this morning,” the forum said. “We call on the media and the public to be sensitive and responsible in disseminating this list and other similar information, both before and after the signing of an agreement. »
“It is urgent to reach a comprehensive agreement that will allow the return of all the hostages: the living so that they can recover, and the murdered or fallen victims so that they can be given a dignified burial. We leave no one behind,” the group added.
The list published by the Saudi media al-Sharq does not specify which hostages are still alive and the hostages mentioned in the list are:
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 captive in Gaza since the attack of the Palestinian terrorist group on Israeli soil on 7 October 2023.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts led under the aegis of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, no truce has been concluded since that of a week at the end of November 2023, which allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
An estimated 96 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 are still in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 hostages whose deaths were confirmed by the military. 105 civilians were freed during a week-long truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before the truce. Eight hostages, including a female soldier, were rescued alive by Israeli forces, and the bodies of 38 hostages were also recovered, three of whom were mistakenly killed by the army in a tragic incident in December.
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