A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel, reports the BBC.
Among those listed for release are 10 women and 11 older male hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children who Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike.
Several hostages who Hamas says are sick are also included on the list.
Reports from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend.
The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages, the report further notes.
“The list of abductees published in the media was not passed on to Israel by Hamas, but was originally passed from Israel to intermediaries as early as July 2024,” it said.
“To date, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the abductees on the list.”
Some will see Hamas’s decision to release the names of hostages as an attempt to increase public pressure on the Israeli government.
Over the weekend, ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, but the talks do not appear to have made significant progress yet.
A Hamas official told Reuters news agency any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war.
“However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal and has made no step forward,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
