Among the 34 names of hostages Hamas claims to include in the first phase of their release, if a deal is reached, are 10 women 11 people over the age of 50 and 2 children, the BBC reported on Monday. Hamas did not specify who among those listed were alive. The children include the two little babies of the Bibas family, Ariel and Kfir who were said to have been killed although Hamas provided no proof of their deaths.
There are 10 women, 11 people between the ages of 55 and 85 and two small children among the 34 hostages Hamas was willing to release in the first stage of the deal being negotiated in Qatar, the BBC said on Monday.
The British broadcaster said it had obtained the list of hostages to be freed in the humanitarian release but was not told who among those listed were alive or deceased.
The list includes Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who Hamas said had been killed in an Israeli strike in November of 2023 along with their mother Shiri, although the terrorists did not provide any evidence. The father Yarden is still being held in Gaza.
Also on the list are hostages that Hamas defined as "sick." The Saud Asharq network posted a full list that includes names and ages but the list cannot be verified.
The names published by the network include the five IDF female soldiers who were lookouts at the Nahal Oz base on Oct. 7 including Liri Albag who was seen in a video released by Hamas on Saturday, as well as Avera Mengistu who entered Gaza on his own volition in 2014, and has been held captive there since.
Israeli officials said the list of names published by Alshaq was the Israeli demand delivered to the mediators in the talks and repeated its claim that no new list was received by the terror group.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office (PMO) said in a statement on Sunday that no list has been received by Israel yet, though the Hamas official clarified that the list was merely "approved." According to reports, Israel insists on the release of at least 24 live hostages and has therefore requested that Hamas also release injured male hostages under 50 years old on humanitarian grounds. Reports also suggest not all individuals listed as hostages are necessarily alive.
Police clash with protesters demanding hostages be freed
(Video: Lior Sharon)
A Hamas official told Reuters news agency on Sunday that any agreement to return hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent cease-fire or end to the war.
"However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the cease-fire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward," the official who was not identified, said.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington wanted to see a cease-fire deal in Gaza concluded and the hostages brought out in the next two weeks as a renewed push was underway to reach a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas and return Israeli hostages before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
"We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining," Blinken told a press conference in South Korea when asked whether a cease-fire deal was close.