Hamas has approved an Israeli list of captives that need to be freed as part of the first stage of a Gaza ceasefire deal, a source close to negotiations told Middle East Eye on Monday.
The source said that two children, 10 women – five of them soldiers – and 11 people over the age of 50 were among the 34 captives that the Palestinian group would release if a ceasefire deal were reached.
The others were male captives whose release Israel considers urgent, the source added.
Among those on the list, which was shared with MEE, are Kfir Bibas, a toddler, and his brother Ariel, aged five, both of whom Hamas said were killed in Israeli air strikes shortly after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
Also included in the list is 19-year-old soldier Liri Albag, who appeared in a video posted by Hamas at the weekend.
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Speaking in Hebrew, Albag called on the Israeli government to secure her release, saying: “Today is the beginning of a new year; the whole world is celebrating. Only we are entering a dark year, a year of loneliness.”
“We are living in an extremely terrifying nightmare,” she added.
Hours after the video was published, thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a deal to release the captives.
“The sign of life from Liri is harsh and undeniable proof of urgency in bringing all the hostages home,” the Hostage Families Forum said in a statement.
Last week, Netanyahu approved a delegation to head to Doha to resume ceasefire negotiations. The delegation included members of the Mossad, Israel’s military, and top security officials.
Also present in Doha was White House Middle East advisor Brett McGurk, a US official told CNN.
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An Israeli source told the news channel that Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, was expected to travel to Washington this week and meet with the Biden administration and Trump transition officials, where the topic of a possible ceasefire is likely to be a key talking point.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to bring an end to all wars in the Middle East and warned there would be “hell to pay” if a ceasefire deal was not reached by the time he entered office on 20 January.
In December, Hamas and Israel resumed negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal, but after a round of talks, the Palestinian group accused the Israeli team of trying to scupper the deal by putting in “new conditions”.
And then, last week, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the group wants to achieve a ceasefire deal as soon as possible, adding that the new round of talks was focused on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.
Israel’s war on Gaza has raged for nearly 15 months, with the only exception being a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023 that saw both Israel and Hamas exchange captives.
In the November 2023 ceasefire, more than 100 of the 251 people taken captive in the 7 October attacks were released.
Since then, eight have been freed in Israeli military operations. During one of those captive rescue missions in June 2023, Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians in an operation that was supported by the US, according to multiple reports at the time.
Israel has destroyed much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure over the course of the war, in addition to killing more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
