Hamas terrorists negotiating with Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire told mediators they do not have forty living hostages that match the criteria for the first round of the six-week truce between Israeli and Hamas fighters. The proposed release of forty kidnapped Israelis would have included the remaining women and old men, but it appears that they have not survived the ordeal of their kidnapping.
Hamas has indicated it is currently unable to identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first phase of a ceasefire deal, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the discussions, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than are publicly known.
The framework that has been laid out by negotiators says that during a first six-week pause in the fighting, Hamas should release 40 of the remaining hostages, including all the women as well as sick and elderly men. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli prisons.
Hamas has told international mediators – which include Qatar and Egypt - it does not have 40 living hostages who match those criteria for release, both sources said.
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With Hamas appearing to be unable to reach 40 in the proposed categories, Israel has pushed for Hamas to fill out the initial release with younger male hostages, including soldiers, the Israeli official said.
Reporting has not confirmed whether any Israeli military-aged male hostages are alive either.
Throughout the months of negotiations since the last ceasefire Israel has repeatedly asked for a list of the hostages and their conditions. Hamas has argued that it needs a break in the fighting to be able to track and gather down the hostages, the same argument it made in November before a week-long pause that broke down after Hamas failed to deliver more hostages.
Meanwhile, reporting has found that Hamas has swiftly regained control of the southern bombed-out Gazan city, Khan Younis.
Hamas regained control of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, four days after the Israeli army withdrew from the city, an Israeli military analyst said Wednesday.
''Hamas will be decisively defeated, in a best-case scenario, only by 2026 or 2027, even after its last two brigades are hopefully dismantled this year,” Yoav Zitun wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Zitun highlighted the swift resurgence of Hamas operatives in Khan Younis as residents returned to ravaged homes following the withdrawal.
He emphasized the ongoing challenge faced by Israel in achieving its objectives. ''It (is) increasingly difficult to achieve even the more modest goals of the war: reducing Hamas' civilian, not just military, control,'' he wrote.
Furthermore, Zitun pointed out the army's struggle to identify and target Hamas' intact internal security mechanisms, which continue to operate effectively.
He described the daunting task of locating and neutralizing the dispersed workforce of Hamas operatives as akin to ''finding a needle in a haystack.''
Reuters reports that three of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's sons and two grandchildren were killed in an airstrike. Ismail Haniyeh is hiding in Qatar.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist group and Haniyeh's family said.
The three sons - Hazem, Amir and Mohammad - were killed after the car they were driving in was bombed in Gaza's Al-Shati camp, Hamas said. Two of Haniyeh's grandchildren were also killed in the attack and a third was wounded, Hamas media said.