US Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners Hamas Demands in Exchange Talks
Hamas also provided the names of four hostages who are US citizens but do not fall into the previous category.
Moreover, Hamas also submitted a list of Palestinian security prisoners held in Israel, which it wants to be released in exchange for the hostages. The list is under review by Israel, with an Israeli negotiating delegation scheduled to arrive in Cairo, according to the report.
Discussions on hostages’ release mark an advanced stage in negotiations, following earlier efforts focused on halting the fighting and securing a truce.
Earlier, AFP citing sources within Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said that Hamas had told them to compile information on the hostages they hold in preparation for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Israel.
Hamas told factions including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, and the Popular Resistance Committees to prepare information such as whether their hostages were alive or dead, the sources told AFP.
During Hamas’s surprise October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the group and its allies took 251 people captive.
A total of 96 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday there was renewed “momentum” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.
A Hamas source told AFP there had been “intensified contacts” recently between Hamas and Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators, and that the group expected a new round of talks in Cairo “will begin in the coming days”.
The same source called on Israel to halt the war, saying the presence of its forces made it “difficult to reach all the captive groups to know the details of the living and dead prisoners”.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, and sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel’s offensive has killed 44,708 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
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