Hamas claims it provided Israel with a list of 34 hostages

The Hamas source also told Reuters that any hostage release deal is contingent on Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Hamas told Reuters that it has provided a list of 34 hostages, but Israel has denied the claim.

The Hamas source also told Reuters that any hostage release deal is contingent on Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza.

Israel has denied this report that Hamas has given a list of 34 hostages.

“As of now, Hamas has not given a list of hostages,” says the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.

Channel 12 reported that Hamas did show a list of hostages, but did not indicate who on the list was still alive.

Previously, it was reported that Israel gave Hamas a list of 34 hostages it wanted to be released in the first phase of a hostage release and prisoner exchange deal.

However, Hamas agreed to release only 22, including elderly and female hostages, and refused to release men of military age, as Israel demanded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel will not commit to a complete end of the war and a withdrawal of IDF soldiers at the outset, but has agreed to a phased deal with a temporary pause in fighting to allow the release of hostages.

Last week, Netanyahu said Hamas is not taking hostage deal and ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar seriously and “does not want” to reach an agreement.

Hamas “does not want there to be a deal,” Netanyahu said, according to a report by The Jerusalem Post.

In an interview with The New York Times, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied Netanyahu was responsible for the impasse in a hostage agreement. He said he was “astonished” the world wasn’t putting more pressure on Hamas.

“One of the things that I found a little astounding … you hear virtually nothing from anyone since Oct. 7 about Hamas.”

He added, “Why there hasn’t been a unanimous chorus around the world for Hamas to put down its weapons, to give up the hostages, to surrender — I don’t know what the answer is to that. Israel, on various occasions has offered safe passage to Hamas’s leadership and fighters out of Gaza. Where is the world?”