Israeli officials: Report Hamas gave list of hostages to be freed under deal is incorrect

Families of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip were told Monday that an Arabic news report claiming serious progress in negotiations for a ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza was incorrect, even as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said chances for an accord were more positive than before.

Earlier, the Qatari-owned, London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed news outlet reported that Hamas had sent negotiators a list of hostages it was willing to release as part of a deal and the names of Palestinian security prisoners it wanted in return.

Citing a source familiar with developments, the paper said a Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Sunday and delivered a list of elderly or medically unwell hostages who would be released during the initial stages of a proposed truce. In addition, the delegation was said to give the names of four hostages with US citizenship who did not fall into the previous category, but who would be freed.

Discussions about who would be set free are considered an advanced stage of negotiations, with earlier stages relating to the terms of a truce.

However, a statement sent to the families of hostages by the government coordinator for the hostage talks said: “In recent hours, reports emerged in the Arab press regarding negotiations to bring the hostages home. These reports, that have also been published in Israel, are not correct.

“We continue to take all measures to secure the return of the hostages and take great care to keep this information secured. We urge you to continue to rely only on information coming from authorized sources,” the statement said.

For more than a year, several waves of negotiations have stalled and failed to reach a sequel to an agreement reached in late November 2023, in which 105 hostages were released in a weeklong truce. Israel believes that 96 of the 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7 are still in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces. Over the past 14 months, IDF troops have rescued eight hostages and recovered the bodies of 38.

However, talks were recently renewed following the ceasefire in Lebanon, and recent regional developments, along with US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat that there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by the time he enters office on January 20, appear to have injected new vigor into talks, with reports saying officials are optimistic a deal can be reached.

Some hostages’ families voiced cautious optimism after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Netanyahu told them the time had come for a hostage deal and that the fall of the Assad regime in Syria could help advance the talks, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Sa’ar said Monday that indirect negotiations were underway and that while it was still too early to be sure, prospects had improved.

“We can be more optimistic than before, but we are not there yet. I hope we will get there,” Sa’ar told a press conference in Jerusalem, reiterating Israel’s position that the hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before Israel agrees to an end to the fighting.

“There will not be a ceasefire in Gaza without a hostage deal,” he said.

Each side accuses the other of standing in the way of a deal, but Sa’ar said Hamas’s previous position demanding an end to the war and a full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza “might have changed in recent times.”

“So if both parties are interested in an agreement, there is a better chance it will be achieved,” he said.

Sunday saw sources within various Palestinian terror groups in Gaza say Hamas had told them to compile information on the hostages they hold, in preparation for a potential deal with Israel.

A key sticking point in the past was Hamas’s refusal to budge from its demand for a permanent end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in exchange for releasing the remaining hostages, while Israel has insisted on only temporary ceasefires and initially maintaining a troop presence in Gaza.

According to a recent report on Axios, the current proposal suggested by Egypt would include a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza during the course of a ceasefire that will last two months. During that time, the sides will work to reach a more permanent end to the fighting.

Source » timesofisrael