Hamas said willing to free only 22 of 34 living hostages demanded by Israel in deal

Palestinian terror group Hamas has partially rejected a list of hostages that Israel insists must be released in the first phase of any ceasefire deal, according to a Monday report.

Kan news, citing an unnamed Palestinian source, said Hamas is willing to release 22 of the 34 hostages on the list, but is refusing to agree to the release of the other 12. Instead, the report stated, the group offered to release 22 living hostages and 12 bodies during the first phase of a potential deal.

Israel turned down the notion and made it clear that it would only accept living hostages during the initial stage of a deal, the report added.

The report did not provide further details on the hostages Hamas is reportedly refusing to release. Earlier this month, Egypt’s Al-Ghad outlet reported that Israel requested that 11 men considered by Hamas to be soldiers be included on the list of hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential deal.

The terror group classifies all Israeli men of fighting age to be soldiers.

Another stumbling block reported by Hebrew media is Hamas’s insistence that a proposed deal include the terms for an end to the war. The terror group was reportedly balking at recent remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would resume fighting after the captives have been released.

Israel and the terror group have traded blame for the latest failure to reach an agreement after a burst of renewed negotiations, nearly 15 months after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 people hostage during its October 7, 2023 attack, of whom 96 remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip — including 34 confirmed dead.

Meanwhile, Hamas is insisting on guarantees from mediators that Israel will end the war as a condition for an overall hostage deal, Ynet reported. Though the terror group is not demanding such assurances for the first stage of the envisioned three-phase deal, it does want an end to the war written into the agreement in light of recent remarks by Netanyahu that he intends to continue the fight after a hostage deal is completed, making any truce a temporary one.

During a high-level meeting last week, Netanyahu told those present that Israel will resume fighting after a hostage deal if one comes about, Channel 12 reported Monday.

“If there is a deal — and I hope there will be — Israel will return to fighting afterward. There is no point in pretending otherwise because returning to fighting is needed in order to complete the goals of the war. Saying this does not thwart a deal, it encourages a deal,” Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu as saying.

The network said the remarks sparked fresh concerns among members of the hostage negotiating team, who believe that such comments — especially when made public — have made it more difficult to secure a deal, given that Hamas hopes to reach a permanent ceasefire.

The quote attributed to Netanyahu by Channel 12 was very similar to one attributed to an unnamed senior Israeli official who told the Ynet news site earlier Monday, “Even if Israel agrees to a deal, it will resume fighting afterward in order to complete the goals of the war.”

The senior official was responding to an earlier report by Ynet, which cited senior members of the security establishment warning that Netanyahu’s refusal to plan for the postwar management of Gaza could lead to a scenario in which Hamas fully regains control over the Strip.

Israeli negotiators were also reportedly dismayed by Netanyahu’s statement to The Wall Street Journal this month that he wouldn’t sign a deal that ends the war, and Defense Minister Israel Katz’s statement from Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor last week that Israel would retain security control of the Strip — seeing both comments as likely to harden Hamas’s position.

Leading figures in the security establishment have long urged Netanyahu to advance a viable alternative to Hamas and have argued in favor of allowing the Palestinian Authority to gain a foothold in Gaza.

Netanyahu has rejected that proposal, likening the West Bank-based PA to Hamas. Though the PA backs a two-state solution, Israel says it has also failed to strongly condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities and supports terror through stipends to terrorists and their families.

The security official speaking to Ynet said that the political echelon’s failure to advance a viable alternative to Hamas is leading to the gradual rollback of military gains made by the IDF in Gaza.

This week the Health Ministry sent a report to the United Nations on the atrocities that released hostages suffered while in Hamas captivity.

Channel 12 reported Monday that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposes a deal that would end the war, met last week with the families of hostages and told them he couldn’t be sure their loved ones would return alive. Families had requested the meeting in light of Smotrich’s ongoing rejection of a deal, the report said.

When challenged by families that time was running out for the still-living hostages, Smotrich reportedly responded, “I can’t guarantee to you that we will bring them back alive.”

During the meeting, Smotrich reportedly also said he was “not prepared to bring back bodies in return for terrorists,” a reference to Palestinian security prisoners who would be released as part of a hostage deal.

Smotrich’s office said in response to the report that “the minister is committed to returning the hostages… alongside war until victory and the destruction of Hamas.”