Hamas tells negotiators it doesn’t have 40 Israeli hostages needed for first round of ceasefire
Hamas has indicated it is currently unable to identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first phase of a ceasefire deal, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the discussions, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than are publicly known.
The framework that has been laid out by negotiators says that during a first six-week pause in the fighting, Hamas should release 40 of the remaining hostages, including all the women as well as sick and elderly men. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli prisons.
Hamas has told international mediators – which include Qatar and Egypt - it does not have 40 living hostages who match those criteria for release, both sources said.
CNN’s record of the conditions of the hostages also suggests there are fewer than 40 living hostages who meet the proposed criteria.
The inability - or unwillingness - of Hamas to tell Israel which hostages would be released, alive, is a major obstacle, the second source added.
With Hamas appearing to be unable to reach 40 in the proposed categories, Israel has pushed for Hamas fill out the initial release with younger male hostages, including soldiers, the Israeli official said.
Throughout the months of negotiations since the last ceasefire Israel has repeatedly asked for a list of the hostages and their conditions. Hamas has argued that it needs a break in the fighting to be able to track and gather down the hostages, the same argument it made in November before a week-long pause that broke down after Hamas failed to deliver more hostages.
The majority of the almost 100 hostages who remain alive are believed to be male IDF soldiers or men of military reserve age. Hamas is expected to try to use to them in later phases to try to negotiate more significant concessions, including more high-level prisoners and a permanent end to the war.
The more than 250 hostages captured or killed on October 7 are believed to have been spread out among different members and factions of Hamas, as well as other militant groups, gangs and even held by families.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said Wednesday that of the 129 hostages from the October 7 attack currently held, 33 are dead.
Hamas studies truce proposal six months into Gaza war
Hamas said Tuesday it was considering a new framework for a truce proposed during the latest round of negotiations in Cairo, as Palestinians returning to southern Gaza confronted the extent of destruction left after Israeli troops' withdrawal.
Six months into the bloodiest Gaza war, Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators have proposed another temporary ceasefire, according to a Hamas source.
The three-part proposal would halt fighting for six weeks to facilitate an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Saying it "appreciates" the mediators' efforts, Hamas on Tuesday accused Israel of not responding to any of its demands during the talks.
"Despite this, the movement’s leadership is studying the submitted proposal," the militant group said in a statement.
After months of fierce fighting, Israel announced over the weekend it had pulled its forces from the southern city of Khan Yunis to allow troops to recuperate in preparation for the next phase of the war, including an incursion into Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday a date has now been set for sending ground forces into the strip's southernmost city, which hosts most of the displaced Palestinian population.
Foreign powers and humanitarian groups have persistently urged Israel not to carry out an operation there for fear of inflicting mass civilian casualties.
But Netanyahu and his military commanders have insisted victory over Hamas cannot be achieved otherwise.
"It will happen -- there is a date," Netanyahu said in a video that did not specify the timing.
In response, Israel's main backer the United States repeated its objections to a Rafah operation, saying it would "ultimately hurt Israel's security", while Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant called it "the right time for a truce", even as strikes continued to pummel Gaza.
-'Ruined place' -
As Palestinians prepared for Wednesday's Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fast, those returning to Khan Yunis just north of Rafah confronted mounds of rubble where houses and shops once stood.
"I came to see my home, only to find it destroyed and reduced to a pile of rubble," said Uum Ahmad al-Fagawi after coming back to the Gazan city. "I'm shocked by what I saw. Every home is destroyed, not only mine but also all the neighbours' homes."
Another returnee said she had come back to find "a ruined place".
"No water, no electricity, no columns, no walls, and no doors, there's nothing. Gaza is not Gaza anymore," she said.
The troops' withdrawal comes as Israel faces tremendous international pressure to pause its war and allow more humanitarian aid into the starving territory.
Since the October 7 attacks that launched the war, Gazans have been deprived of food, water and other basic supplies under a blockade.
The dire shortages have been only minimally eased by aid deliveries, with humanitarian groups warning the trickle of supplies will not avert an imminent "man-made" famine.
On Monday, 419 aid trucks were permitted into the territory, the most in a single day since the start of the war, according to COGAT, the Israeli body that manages the flow of aid into the strip.
- Ceasefire negotiations -
The war began with Hamas's October 7 attack against Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Palestinian militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 33,207 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.
The latest proposal to pause the fighting would see a six-week truce and Israeli women and child hostages freed in exchange for up to 900 Palestinian prisoners, a source in Hamas said Monday.
The deal would also allow the return of displaced Palestinian civilians to the north of the Gaza Strip and 400 to 500 trucks of food aid a day, according to the source.
During previous rounds of mediation, which ended in deadlock, Hamas demanded a comprehensive ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal from the strip and control over aid deliveries.
Despite months of negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, the only negotiated truce so far was in November, when 78 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were released.
In sharpening rhetoric that exposed a possible waning patience with Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden last week demanded the Israeli leader do more to protect Gaza's civilians and reach a ceasefire.
With the proposed deal now with Gaza's rulers, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that "it's going to be up to Hamas to come through".
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told the BBC he was "more optimistic today than I was a couple of days ago" but added: "We are by no means at the last stretch of the talks."
Israel would let 150,000 Gazans return north in potential truce, officials say
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike as Palestinians fleeing north Gaza due to Israel’s military offensive move southward, at the central Gaza Strip
Israel has agreed in Gaza war ceasefire talks in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of the enclave, but believes Islamist group Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.
Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a U.S. proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to north Gaza with no security checks.
In return, they said, Hamas would be required to give a list of female, elderly and sick hostages it still holds alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment. Hamas said on Tuesday that the latest proposal passed on by Eqyptian and Qatari mediators did not meet demands, but that it would study it further before responding.
Israel's assessment is that Hamas does not want to strike a deal yet, the two Israeli officials said.
In the seventh month of the war, Hamas wants an end to the Israeli military offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and permission for displaced Palestinians to return home.
Israel's immediate aim is to secure the release of hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 cross-border rampage.
It says it will not end the war until Hamas no longer controls Gaza or threatens Israel militarily.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the enclave laid to waste.
Israel pulled back most ground forces from southern Gaza this week after months of fighting, but still says it plans to launch an assault on Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, where more than half of Gazans are now sheltering.
Netanyahu has said civilians will be evacuated from Rafah before Israeli forces pursue Hamas' remaining battalions there, but that pledge has done little to calm international alarm.
The war began when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. Around 130 are still being held incommunicado in Gaza, Israel says.
Israel opposition leader, in Washington, calls hostage deal hard but 'doable'
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid
A deal to release hostages held in Gaza is difficult but "doable", Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday after he and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the need for Israel and Hamas to resolve their conflict.
"It is a difficult deal. This is a deal we might not like, but it's doable, and therefore needs to be made," Lapid said. Talks have been held in Egypt on a deal for freeing hostages and calling a temporary ceasefire.
Lapid, who will also meet White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, is visiting Washington as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces pressure at home and aboard over the war in Gaza. Some families of hostages have demanded his government do more to bring home hostages captured by Hamas in its deadly Oct. 7 attack that triggered the Israeli offensive.
"There are enough good people in the Israeli government," Lapid told reporters outside the State Department. If need be, he added, "the Israeli opposition will give a security net to the government in order to do the hostage deal because we need to bring them back home."
Fellow opposition politician Benny Gantz, who unlike Lapid is part of Netanyahu's war cabinet, last week called for national elections to take place in September. Lapid, asked about the call, declined to speak about Israeli politics while in the U.S.
Lapid's visit comes days after President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal.
Biden also warned Netanyahu for the first time that U.S. support could be conditioned on Israel doing more to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and protecting civilians.
Asked about the ultimatum, Lapid said Biden "is obviously worried about the humanitarian situation in Gaza."
He added: "Israel is worried as well" and must "do our best in order to avoid hurting the people of Gaza. We have no war with the children of Gaza... on the other hand, you have to remember we are fighting a terrorist organization that's using them as human shields."
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