A senior Hamas official told the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Thursday overnight that claims suggesting Mohammed Sinwar was inflexible and refused to provide a full list of living Israeli hostages as part of efforts to ensure a hostage and cease-fire deal are false.
According to the official, Hamas has provided such a list — including those its members managed to contact through the factions responsible for holding them. Israel has consistently denied that such a list was delivered throughout the talks.
The official added that the terror organization has held talks with other factions holding hostages, but that it was impossible to communicate with all of them due to the situation in Gaza. He further said Hamas has affirmed during negotiations its willingness to provide a complete list of living hostages once the situation in Gaza stabilizes and after a cease-fire is achieved.
The official also noted that the local leadership of the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, operates in "harmony" with the terror group’s political leadership, asserting there’s "complete agreement" between them.
He said Khalil al-Hayya, who served as former leader Yahya Sinwar’s deputy, has effectively been authorized to make decisions in the negotiations as the head of Hamas's negotiation team.
Al-Hayya is part of a leadership council Hamas established following Sinwar’s assassination, which includes four other key Hamas figures: the movement’s leader abroad Khaled Mashal, Hamas leader in the West Bank Zaher Jabarin, the head of Hamas’s Shura Council Muhammad Darwish and senior official Nizar Awadallah.
The outlet also reported that one unresolved issue pertains to the release of Palestinian prisoners. According to the report, the release of some "high-profile" prisoners — including Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Abbas al-Sayed, Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed and Hassan Salameh, along with two senior Islamic Jihad officials — would be postponed to the final stage of the deal. An Israeli source reiterated that Barghouti would not be released.
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Egyptian sources told the outlet that "the negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire are steps away from the finish line. Agreements have been reached on contentious points during the latest round of talks. One of the issues expected to be resolved concerns the lists of hostages and prisoners."