According to the BBC and Israeli media, a senior Hamas official revealed a list of 34 captives that the Palestinian group is prepared to release in the initial phase of a possible truce deal with Israel. This list includes ten women, eleven men aged 50 to 85, as well as children whom Hamas claimed had died during an Israeli airstrike.
The Israeli prime minister’s office refuted claims that Hamas provided Israel with a list of captives; however, according to the Times of Israel, this list was sent by Hamas in the past. “The list of hostages that was published in the media was initially provided by Israel to the (negotiations) mediators in July 2024,” the prime minister’s office responded.
Negotiations for a ceasefire resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but so far there has been no substantial progress in the discussions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed confidence that a ceasefire agreement in Gaza will be reached, but perhaps after President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.
Mr. Blinken, who tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully last year to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, said the Biden administration “will work every minute of every day” until end of his mandate to obtain an agreement on the hostages. “We are very keen to have this agreement concluded in the next two weeks,” Blinken said during a visit to Seoul.
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 movement said the day before 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 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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