A woman passes through a wall with photos of hostages abducted to the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led offensive on October 7, 2023, in Kfar Saba, Israel, on Monday. Amir Levi/Getty Images Hide caption
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Amir Levi/Getty Images
TEL AVIV, Israel – Hamas has named 34 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, including two dual U.S. citizens, and says it is willing to release them under a negotiated ceasefire agreement with Israel.
After more than six months of sporadic ceasefire negotiations, the proposal aims to halt the devastating 15-month war in Gaza, sparked by a Hamas-led ambush in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. This is the most significant sign of progress.
A list of 34 hostages published by Saudi news outlet Asharq and confirmed to NPR by Hamas officials includes five female soldiers, five female civilians, two infants and 22 males. They include Sagi Dekel-Cheng and Keith Siegel, who hold dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship. . Some of the 34 may not be alive.
In exchange for the release of these hostages, Israel will release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and partially withdraw its troops from parts of the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials said.
Israel agreed to the framework, according to people familiar with the talks.
Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
The deal, which is being negotiated in Qatar, would result in the release of only a third of the roughly 100 hostages remaining in Gaza. The young male soldiers, including Eden Alexander, who has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, will remain in Gaza.
Hamas and other extremist groups abducted 251 hostages in Gaza on October 7, 2023, according to an Israeli government tally. The following month, 105 of them were released in a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. Several people were subsequently rescued in an Israeli military operation, and the bodies of 37 hostages were recovered by Israeli forces.
Israel has not yet agreed to a permanent halt to military attacks in Gaza, and Hamas will not release all hostages until an end to the war is guaranteed.
View from Sderot, a city in southern Israel. Smoke can be seen rising above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip during Israeli shelling on January 5. Menachem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images Hide Caption
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Menachem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images
leak information about hostages
Israel says it has requested that 34 hostages from this same group be released in July 2024. It is classified as a humanitarian incident, including a young man with a chronic illness and his father.
Hamas has previously said that three of the people named on the list – two infants and their mother – were killed in an Israeli military offensive in Gaza in November 2023. Israel has not confirmed these deaths.
Israel has asked Hamas to reveal which hostages on the list are still alive in order to facilitate talks in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas officials said Hamas would only release the information in exchange for concessions from Israel, but did not provide further details.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, an umbrella organization representing hostages’ families, said it was “deeply disturbed” because the list of 34 hostages published by Asharq did not include the names of any hostages believed to be still alive. “I am heartbroken,” he said. In a statement, the group called for a comprehensive agreement to free all hostages.
Other disorders
Both Israeli and Hamas officials have indicated flexibility regarding the identity and number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees that Israel will release in exchange for Israeli hostages.
Remaining hurdles include Hamas’ demands for a timetable for ending the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the return of Palestinians to areas they fled in the war.
Hamas officials say Hamas will either agree to an immediate end to the war or guarantee that the war will end within a certain time frame, even if it means promising an unspecified “multi-year ceasefire.” He said he is insisting that it be done.
Despite ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks, Hamas on Monday praised the Palestinian shooting that killed three Israelis on a bus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Israel’s finance minister said: The Israeli military has largely balanced its attacks on Hamas in recent months, saying neighboring Palestinian villages should face the same fate as neighboring areas in northern Gaza.
Abu Bakr Bashir reported from London.
