Israel’s war on Gaza: Hamas says it has approved list of 34 hostages to be released
The fresh negotiations for a ceasefire came amid intensified Israeli attacks on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
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Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday said it has agreed to a list of 34 hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was quoted as saying that Hamas had not provided a hostage list. However, later on Sunday, the news agency reported that a Hamas official had provided it with the list containing the names of the 34 persons.
The persons will be released “whether alive or dead”, AFP quoted a Hamas official as saying. “However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead,” the official added.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then, killing more than 46,600 persons, including over 17,400 children.
Some of the hostages were released in November 2023 as part of a brief ceasefire deal and others were killed as a result of the war.
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