A Hamas official has said the terrorist group is willing to release 34 hostages in the “first phase” of an exchange deal with Israel.
“Hamas agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list submitted by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal,” the official told AFP.
An unnamed official told Reuters that the deal depends on the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, along with a permanent ceasefire in the brutal war that has devastated the Strip for more than a year.
He stated 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 for his office telling the newspaper: “So far, Hamas has not provided a list of hostages.”
Senior Hamas officials told Qatari media that negotiations are underway to reach a comprehensive deal, not a partial one.
Sources reportedly said there has been no mention of removing Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip.
An Arab negotiator involved in the ceasefire talks appeared to back this up, telling Israeli broadcaster I24 that Israel is willing to be flexible in allowing Hamas to rule the Gaza Strip after the war, as long as it disarms and There are mechanisms to prevent it from being disarmed. rearm in the future.
A spokesman for the Hostage and Family Forum declined to comment.
The delicate diplomatic moves come hours after the terrorist group released a sickening hostage video of the youngest Israeli woman still detained in Gaza more than 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped.
Relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza gather in front of the Ministry of Defense to hold a demonstration demanding a ceasefire and a hostage exchange agreement in Gaza, on December 28, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Hamas has released a sickening hostage video of Liri Albag, who remains detained in Gaza more than 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped.
Liri Albag, 19, was seen shaking and crying as she is forced to beg her government to save her in a sadistic three and a half minute clip.
She breaks down as she recounts how some held with her have been “seriously injured” and says she has “looked death in the eye.”
In a direct plea to Defense Secretary Israel Katz, he says: ‘You know my father. Look him in the eyes 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.”
He then turns to his parents, Shira and Eli, and his brothers, and says: ‘I love you so much. I miss you infinitely.’
While his distraught family asked that the full video not be shared, they agreed to release two still images to increase pressure for a settlement.
In a statement, they said: “Today’s video has broken our hearts.” This is not the daughter and sister we know. He is not feeling well; His serious psychological discomfort is evident.
‘We saw our heroic Liri survive and beg for her life. She is only tens of kilometers from us and yet for 456 days we have not been able to bring her home.
In the video, 19-year-old Albag can be seen bursting into tears.
Liri photographed alongside Agam Berger with her hands tied behind her back while sitting on the ground.
Pictured alongside other hostages, the group of young Israelis appeared to have been injured by their captors.
Liri (pictured in blue) also appeared in another Hamas hostage video last year.
‘We call on the Prime Minister, world leaders and all decision makers: it is 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 published 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 will not give up on you and you will return home alive.
‘You’re coming back. Yes, it is hard there and yes, you are suffering, but you come 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 this, we are not going to give up, you don’t give up either, keep fighting and surviving. You are strong and you are capable. We are here fighting for you. “I love you so much and I miss you so much and I’m waiting to hug you.”
Eli, the 19-year-old’s father, continued: ‘Liri, if you listen to us, tell the others that all the families are moving heaven and earth and want their children to return home, and we will fight until all the hostages are returned : the living. for rehabilitation and for the murdered and fallen for a proper burial in Israel.
Eli Albag, Liri’s father, shows two images, one of his daughter before the war and another of her in captivity in Hamas.
Liri’s relatives call for her release during a protest today in Tel Aviv
‘Tell others: stay strong. Just a little more and soon there will be an agreement.”
Liri was completing her mandatory national service as an unarmed border observer when she was abducted from the Nahal Oz base on October 7.
Footage from that day showed her cowering in terror, sitting in pools of blood, as her captors called her and her comrades “vile dogs” and “Sabaya,” an ancient Islamic term that can mean sex slave.
She was taken along with her fellow teenage border guards Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, Agam Berger and Karina Ariev.
More to follow.