As Israeli officers and Hamas representatives continued oblique talks Monday on a cease-fire settlement and the discharge of hostages, Hamas officers indicated that the group had permitted an Israeli record of 34 hostages to be launched within the first part of the deal, conveying a way for momentum.
However the Israeli authorities shortly shot down any notion that Hamas’ acceptance of the record represented a big breakthrough towards ending the struggle in Gaza.
Here is what we all know concerning the hostage record and the state of negotiations after months of false begins and failed rounds.
What does Hamas say?
A Hamas official briefed on the talks instructed The New York Occasions on Monday that if a deal is reached, Hamas agrees to launch the 34 hostages whose names seem on an inventory supplied by Israel via intermediaries. The consultant spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the negotiations are confidential.
The US has lengthy pushed for a deal and is making an attempt to facilitate it with the assistance of Qatar and Egypt, the 2 principal international locations mediating between Israel and Hamas.
Reuters reported on Sunday night that Hamas had permitted the record submitted by Israel. The report cited an unnamed Hamas official as including that any hostage deal was contingent on Israel agreeing to a timetable for a withdrawal from Gaza and a everlasting cease-fire, consistent with long-standing Hamas calls for.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to overtly declare any want to finish the struggle, vowing to eradicate Hamas as a navy and ruling power in Gaza.
An estimated 100 hostages are nonetheless being held in Gaza out of about 250 individuals taken captive throughout the October 2023 Hamas-led assaults that sparked the struggle. No less than a 3rd of the captives are presumed lifeless, based on Israel.
The one-week truce in November 2023. allowed the discharge of 105 hostages in alternate for some 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israel. Only some hostages had been rescued alive by Israeli forces, and the our bodies of dozens of others had been recovered. Israeli troopers unintentionally killed three hostages they mistakenly recognized as militants.
Subsequent makes an attempt to succeed in a cease-fire failed on account of gaps in each side’ calls for, with either side blaming the opposite for thwarting efforts to succeed in a deal.
What Israel says
Israel despatched the unique record of hostages to be launched within the first part of any deal to mediators in July 2024, based on an announcement launched Monday by Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace.
However the record has since been up to date, as three of those that initially appeared on it — Hersh Goldberg-Paulin, a twin American-Israeli citizen, and two Israeli girls, Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi — had been killed by their captors on the finish of August. The newer model of the record was published by the BBC on Monday, and Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace appeared to verify its authenticity.
On this newest spherical of negotiations, Israel has requested Hamas for data on which hostages stay alive. With out that, Israeli officers say, there could be no settlement on what number of Palestinian prisoners Israel could be prepared to launch in alternate for them.
“Israel has not but obtained any affirmation or remark from Hamas concerning the standing of the hostages on the record,” Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace stated in an announcement, including, “Israel will proceed to behave relentlessly for the return of all our hostages .”
The Hamas official who spoke to The Occasions stated the group wouldn’t give Israel particulars of the standing of the 34 hostages on the record with out getting one thing in return.
There are 10 girls on the record, 5 of them troopers; 11 older male hostages between the ages of fifty and 85; two younger youngsters whom Hamas beforehand stated had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, however whose deaths haven’t been confirmed by Israeli authorities; and different male hostages whose launch Israel considers pressing.
Along with Israel’s request for data on the standing of the hostages, different contentious points stay within the talks, based on Israeli officers and Hamas representatives. An Israeli official aware of the matter, who was not licensed to debate the talks publicly, stated Monday that talks had been progressing and that the 2 sides had been nearer than that they had been in a while. However the official warned that that they had been at an identical level earlier than.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
