A Hamas official has said the terror group is ready to release 34 hostages in the ‘first phase’ of an exchange deal with Israel.
‘Hamas has agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal,’ the official told AFP
An anonymous official told Reuters that the deal is contingent on Israeli’s complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza, along with a permanent ceasefire in the brutal war that has devastated the Strip for over a year.
He claimed that there is no progress on the Israeli side on this point.
According to the Times of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has denied these reports, with a spokesperson from his office telling the newspaper: ‘As of now, Hamas has not given a list of hostages.’
Senior Hamas officials told Qatari media that the negotiations are in the works for a comprehensive agreement, not a partial one.
The sources reportedly said that there has not been any mentions of removing Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip.
An Arab negotiator involved in ceasefire talks appeared to back this up, telling Israeli broadcaster I24 that Israeli is willing to be flexible in allowing Hamas to govern the Gaza Strip after the war as long as its disarms itself and mechanisms are in place to prevent itself from rearming in the future.
A spokesperson for the Hostages and Families Forum declined to comment.
The sensitive diplomatic moves come hours after the terror group released a sickening hostage video of the youngest female Israeli still held in Gaza over 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped.
Relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza gather in front of the Ministry of Defense to hold demonstration demanding a ceasefire and a hostage swap agreement in Gaza, on December 28, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel
Hamas has released a sickening hostage video of Liri Albag who is still held in Gaza over 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped
Liri Albag, 19, was seen shaking and crying as she is forced to beg for her government to save her in a sadistic three-and-a-half-minute clip.
She breaks down as she tells how some held with her have been ‘badly wounded’ and said she has ‘looked death in the eye’.
Making a direct plea to Defence Secretary Israel Katz, she says: ‘You know my father. Look him in the eye and tell him that he and my mother don’t deserve to hug their daughter.
‘Look at them and tell them if you have the courage.’
She then addresses her parents, Shira and Eli, and siblings, telling them: ‘I love you so much. I miss you infinitely.’
While her distraught family asked that the full video is not shared, they agreed to release two still images to increase pressure to reach a deal.
In a statement, they said: ‘Today’s video has torn our hearts to pieces. This is not the daughter and sister we know. She is not well – her severe psychological distress is evident.
‘We watched our heroic Liri surviving and pleading for her life. She is just dozens of kilometers away from us, yet for 456 days we have been unable to bring her home.
In the video, 19-year-old Albag can be seen breaking down in tears
Liri pictured alongside Agam Berger with their hands tied behind their backs as they sit on the ground
Pictured alongside other hostages, the group of young Israeli women looked to have been injured by their captors
Liri (pictured in blue) was also seen in another Hamas hostage video last year
‘We appeal to the Prime Minister, world leaders, and all decision makers: It’s time to make decisions as if your own children were there.
‘Liri is alive and must return alive. This depends only on you. You must not miss this current opportunity to bring them back. All of them.’
In addition to this statement, Liri’s parents also released a heartbreaking video appeal this afternoon in which they spoke directly to their daughter.
Liri’s mother Shira said: ‘I want to tell Liri, if she sees this: Liri, we are fighting for you, we aren’t giving up on you, and you’re coming home alive.
‘You’re coming back. Yes, it’s hard there and yes, you’re suffering, but you’re coming home alive.
‘Mom promises you, Mom and Dad promise you, and we keep our promises – it will happen soon, God willing, it will happen soon.
‘Believe in this, we aren’t giving up, don’t you give up either there, keep fighting and surviving. You’re strong and you’re capable. We’re here fighting for you. I love you so much and miss you terribly and am waiting to hug you’.
The 19-year-old’s father Eli followed: ‘Liri, if you’re hearing us, tell the others that all the families are moving heaven and earth and want their children home, and we will fight until all hostages are returned – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in Israel.
Eli Albag, Liri’s father, holds up two images, one of his daughter before the war and one of her in Hamas captivity
Family members of Liri call for her release during a protest in Tel Aviv today
‘Tell the others – stay strong. Just a little longer and soon there will be a deal’.
Liri was completing her compulsory national service as an unarmed border observer when she was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on October 7.
Footage from that day showed her cowering in terror, sitting in pools of blood, as her abductors called her and her comrades ‘vile dogs’ and ‘Sabaya’ – an ancient Islamic term than can mean female sex slave.
She was taken alongside fellow teenage border guards Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, Agam Berger and Karina Ariev.
More to follow.
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