Hamas approves list of 34 Israeli hostages for ceasefire negotiations: report
Negotiators have made little progress towards an enduring ceasefire over a year into deadly conflict and humanitarian crisis, while another 102 Palestinians were reported killed in Israeli airstrikes over the weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.Hamas has approved the release of 34 hostages it says were suggested by the Israeli government as part of a potential ceasefire agreement, an unnamed official with the militant group told the Reuters news agency.
It’s unclear which hostages were on the list, or whether they were living or dead.
Israel said it had not received any list of potential hostages for exchange from Hamas.
“Contrary to what was claimed, Hamas has yet to provide a list of hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office told CNN.
Further hostage and prisoner exchanges have eluded both sides, as negotiations in Doha for a wider ceasefire remained stalled with little progress.
Meanwhile, both Israel and Hamas have ratcheted up pressure on each other in the final weeks before Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration in the U.S. is expected to change the strategic calculus around the war and introduce further uncertainty.
Israeli strikes killed 14 people across three attacks on Gaza on Sunday, bringing the weekend death toll to 102, according to Palestinian medics.
The attacks this weekend took place in the Nuseirat camp, Jabalia, Khan Younis, and Gaza City.
At least 45,805 people in Gaza have died in the fighting, according to the Gazan health ministry.
Over the weekend, Hamas released a video showing hostage Liri Albag, 19, one of the roughly 250 Israelis kidnapped during the militant group’s October 7, 2023, cross-border attack.
The video of Albag, who was taken from Nachal Oz military base, dismayed her family, who called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of all the hostages, some of whom are believed to already be dead.
“This is not the daughter and sister we know,” Albag’s family said in a statement. “She is not well – her severe psychological distress is evident.”
“You must not miss this current opportunity to bring them back,” the family added. “All of them.”
In addition to the hostages remaining in the territory, the civilians of Gaza, already facing famine-like conditions and mass internal displacement, have also been battered with flooding, rains, and bitter cold, conditions putting children at high risk of injury and death.
“It is so cold now in winter that ... there have been three newborn deaths just in the last week because of the tents and the lack of foods available for them unfortunately,” Dr. Mimi Sayed, an American emergency physician volunteering at the Al-Aqsa hospital, told NBC News this week.
The Biden administration notified Congress this week its planning a new $8 billion arms package for Israel.
The conflict, now over a year old, has been deemed a genocide by international observers including Amnesty International.
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