A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that Hamas does not have 40 living hostages in Gaza who meet the criteria for an exchange under a proposed cease-fire agreement with Israel being negotiated.
A senior Israeli official said Israel had been relayed Hamas’s claim, and the senior Hamas official said that the group had informed mediators facilitating the negotiations.
The Israeli official and the Hamas official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
The assertion raised fears that more hostages may be dead than previously believed and came as talks between Hamas and Israel have stalled amid disagreements over the permanency of a cease-fire, the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and other issues.
International negotiators have proposed an initial six-week cease-fire during which Hamas would release a first group of 40 hostages — including women, older people, ill hostages and five female Israeli soldiers — in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, as well as other demands.
Israeli officials believe there are about 130 hostages remaining in Gaza, and Israeli intelligence officers have concluded that at least 30 of those have died in captivity.
It was not immediately clear if Israel would now demand that young men and soldiers be included among the first 40 released captives. Those hostages had been expected to have to wait for a later phase of the deal.
The development came days after the Israeli military said it had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage who, like around 240 others, was abducted during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
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@ZestfulPartisanDemocrat2yrs2Y
Hamas: “We can’t locate even 40 of the hostages that we kidnapped and have held for 6 months”.
Also Hamas 3 minutes after an Israeli missile strike: “exactly 3,134 people are dead and they’re all women and children.”
One side deliberately murders civilians the other side has the lowest combatant to civilian death ratio of all urban warfare in the Middle East.
Unless you're a psychopath (which I wouldn't put past you) you could see the stark difference.
@ZestfulPartisanDemocrat2yrs2Y
Lowest combatant to civilian death ratio... is there a credible source for this, or just another lie.
Hamas and Israel murder civilians - Israel has killed more civilians since establishment.
@SparklingMareGreen2yrs2Y
To be fair it’s not that they can’t find 40 hostages at all. They don’t have 40 living hostages who satisfy the humanitarian category (women, children, sick, elderly). Not great either, but they claim to have many not in that catagory alive still.
@DejectedVicunaGreen2yrs2Y
*hamas doesn’t have 40 living hostages because israel has killed them all with air strikes and “friendly” fire. hope that helps!
I’m not a zionist - this is an extremely dangerous mindset to have. You’re completely absolving a group from fault due to a radicalized world view. I promise the conflict is not as black and white as you perceive it
@DejectedVicunaGreen2yrs2Y
this is a genocide. a resistance group fighting back against their oppression is always painted as terrorists. hamas has tried to release the hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners held hostage by israel. israel has refused and has murdered 30,000 people.
I can find agreement in what you’ve said BUT you completely absolved the group by saying a completely non factual statement that Israel has bombed their own hostages. If you’re going to make points on an important topic don’t spread misinformation as it’ll hurt your cause
@DejectedVicunaGreen2yrs2Y
they quite literally have killed their own hostages. they admittedly killed three of their own citizens waving white flags. if you drop bombs on an area where there are hostages, the bombs are not going to magically spare the hostages. thanks!
@9LLMG832yrs2Y
“murdered 30,000 people.”
Israel is at war with Hamas. The killings are no "murder" they are "casualties". Murder is a term that only applies when the action is illegal.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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