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Not all 33 hostages requested in first phase of release deal are alive, Hamas claims

The terror group stipulated, ‘During the first phase, Hamas releases 33 Israeli detainees (alive or corpses).’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Hamas officials claim that not all of the 33 hostages requested in the first phase of the current release deal are alive.

After Israel lowered the number of requested hostages in the first phase of the deal from 40 to 33,  the terror group stipulated, “During the first phase, Hamas releases 33 Israeli detainees (alive or corpses).”

According to the New York Times, Hamas informed negotiators that not all of the 33 requested hostages would be alive. Still, no details were reported on whether Hamas revealed how many would be alive.

Before reducing the request to 33, Israel initially demanded 40 of the estimated 132 living hostages in Gaza in the first phase of the deal, and those released would include women, the elderly, and children, along with wounded or ill hostages.

The failure to release even 33 surviving hostages would fail to fulfill Israel’s demand for an agreement.

On Saturday, there was some indication that progress was being made with the stalled hostage negotiations, but Hamas reiterated its previous statements that it would refuse to release any hostages until Israel committed to a complete and permanent ceasefire from the outset.

Read  CIA chief leads first ceasefire summit in months in bid to reboot talks

As a response to the collapse of the hostage agreement, Israel continued with its previously planned operation in Rafah.

On Monday night, Hamas claimed that it had accepted the hostage deal, but Israeli officials warned of a possible ruse.

Hamas chief-in-exile Ismail Haniyeh informed mediators from Qatar and Egypt Monday evening that Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire proposal.

The Israeli negotiating team on Monday night received the terms to which Haniyeh has agreed to a ceasefire and is currently scrutinizing Hamas’ response.

Several Israeli officials have warned, however, that Hamas has added a number of additional clauses into the prior draft of the deal, fundamentally changing the proposal agreed upon by the Israeli and Egyptian delegates.

“This is not the same proposal,” one official told Channel 12, noting that “All kinds of clauses” have been inserted into the ceasefire deal.

The new clauses reportedly concern the conditions for ending the current war, though no details have yet been reported.