At Gaza truce talks, Hamas admitted 40 hostages ‘no longer alive’: Report

Nearly two days after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States proposed to advance a deal between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of 40 hostages held in Gaza, the terror group has reportedly said it ‘does not have the 40 hostages in the humanitarian category that are still alive’.

According to Yaron Avraham, a political reporter and presenter at News 12, Hamas has also told the mediators that the number they say is alive is significantly lower.

The number has not been made public by Hamas yet.

The group said those not alive included women, children, the elderly, and the sick.

The US had proposed a deal for the secure release of hostages in return for a six-week ceasefire.

This came after CIA director Bill Burns met the head of Israel’s Mossad, the Prime Minister of Qatar and the Egyptian spy chief in Cairo on Sunday, in an effort to break the deadlock in negotiations.

A senior Hamas delegation was also in Cairo at the same time and held separate meetings with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

The deal would also include the release of at least 700 Palestinian prisoners, including more than 100 who are serving life sentences for killing Israelis.

On Monday, a Hamas official told news agency Reuters that the group has rejected the Israeli ceasefire proposal made at talks in Cairo, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date was set for an invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians.

As per a Reuters report, the group on Tuesday said Israel’s proposal that it received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions. Hamas also said it would study the proposal, which it described as “intransigent”, and deliver its response to the mediators.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7.

Of the 253 people Hamas seized on October 7, 133 hostages remain captive. Negotiators have spoken of around 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal.

Source » indiatoday.in