Hamas officials pushing for a comprehensive, all-or-nothing approach to talks for the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire offering to release all remaining Israeli hostages in one shot – while demanding an end to the war and a full IDF withdrawal.
By World Israel News Staff
The Hamas terror organization has offered to release all remaining Israeli hostages – both dead and alive – together in a single large exchange, a senior spokesman for the terror group announced Tuesday night.
Khalil al-Hayya, the acting chairman of Hamas’s politburo, said that the terror group is slated to return 10 Israeli hostages, including 6 living captives and the remains of four dead hostages, this week, in two exchanges.
The first, set for Thursday, will include the four dead captives, while the second, including the six living captives, is slated for Saturday.
Al-Hayya said the move demonstrates Hamas’s commitment to the hostage deal and the group’s willingness to move forward with the implementation of the second phase of the deal.
“We highlight the need of the occupation to implement all instructions of the deal without delay,” al-Hayya said.
The Hamas leader added that in order to move forward with the return of the remains of dead hostages, his group would need bulldozers and other heavy equipment to remove debris in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“We demand that heavy equipment to extract bodies including of hostages who were killed in Israeli bombing,” al-Hayya said.
Al-Hayya called for a comprehensive deal between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza permanently, return the remaining Israeli hostages, and remove Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
“We are prepared to immediately move to the next phase that includes a complete ceasefire and withdrawal of the military,” he said.
A second senior Hamas official, Hazem Qassem, echoed al-Hayya’s comments, saying Tuesday night that in the second phase of the deal, Hamas would release the remaining hostages in a single exchange on condition that Israel agrees to pull out of Gaza.
Qassem added that Hamas would not agree to leave Gaza or to disarm, though it does not rule out ceding control to another Palestinian entity.
