The Japan Times - Israel says Hamas has not given 'status of hostages' it says ready to free

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been working for months to strike a deal to end the war in Gaza, but both warring sides have accused each other of derailing the negotiations.

In recent days, mediators have resumed indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, even as Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza.

"As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on the list," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement after a Hamas official gave a list of captives the group was willing to free.

"The list of hostages... was not provided to Israel by Hamas but was originally given by Israel to the mediators in July 2024."

Late on Sunday, a senior Hamas official told AFP the group had "agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal".

The official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the ongoing negotiations with the media, said the initial swap would include all the women, children, elderly people and sick captives still held in Gaza.

But Hamas needed time to determine their condition, he added.

"Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead," the official said. "However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead."

- 'Ceasefire now' -

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which began the Gaza war, Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of those are dead.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called Monday for a "comprehensive agreement" to secure the release of hostages.

"We know more than half are still alive and need immediate rehabilitation, while those who were murdered must be returned for proper burial," it said in a statement.

"We have no more time to waste. A hostage ceasefire agreement must be sealed now!"

Since the war broke out, there has been only one truce in November 2023 that saw 80 Israeli hostages freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians released from Israeli jails.

Neither Israel nor Hamas have given concrete details about the latest round of talks in Doha, but on Saturday Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told relatives of a hostage that negotiations were underway.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.

"If we don't get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I'm confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later," Blinken said on a visit to Seoul.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of "hell to pay" if it does not free the hostages.

Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported Monday that negotiations with Hamas "are approaching a crossroads, and Israeli decision makers are optimistic that a deal can be finalised within the next few days".

Some Israeli news websites reported that the chief of Israel's spy agency Mossad was joining the country's negotiators in Doha on Monday.

- Strikes in Gaza -

Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory's civil defence agency reporting two children killed in a drone strike in the Al-Shawka district in east Rafah.

On Sunday, several air strikes rocked the devastated Palestinian territory, with one killing at least 11 people in the north, where the military has focused its operations in recent months.

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.

Since then, Israel's military offensive has killed 45,805 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

K.Tanaka--JT