Hamas has named 34 Israeli hostages in Gaza — including two dual U.S. citizens — it is willing to release in a ceasefire deal under negotiation with Israel.

After more than half a year of sporadic ceasefire talks, the offer is the most serious sign of progress toward a pause in the devastating 15-month Gaza war that was sparked by the Hamas-led ambush on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The list of 34 hostages, published by Saudi news outlet Asharq and confirmed to NPR by a Hamas official, includes five female soldiers, five civilian women, two infants and 22 men — among them dual U.S.-Israeli nationals Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel. Some of the 34 may not be alive.

In exchange for these hostages' release, according to the Hamas official, Israel would release an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners and partially withdraw its troops from parts of Gaza.

Israel has agreed to that framework, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The deal, under negotiation in Qatar, would only secure the release of a third of the approximately 100 hostages who remain in Gaza. Young male soldiers, including dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Eden Alexander, would remain in Gaza.

Hamas and other militant groups kidnapped 251 hostages to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Israeli government count. The following month, 105 of them were released in a hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. Several were subsequently rescued in Israeli military operations, and the bodies of 37 hostages have been recovered by Israeli troops.

Israel does not yet agree to a permanent end of its military offensive in Gaza, and Hamas will not release all of the hostages until an end to the war is guaranteed.

Divulging information on hostages

Israel says it requested this same group of 34 hostages to be released in July 2024. It classifies them as humanitarian cases, including young men with chronic illnesses and fathers.

Hamas previously said three of those named on the list — the two infants and their mother — were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza in November 2023. Israel has not confirmed these deaths.

Israel is calling on Hamas to divulge which of the hostages on the list are still alive, in order to advance talks on which Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange. The Hamas official said Hamas would only reveal that information in exchange for concessions from Israel, which he did not elaborate on.

An umbrella group representing the families of the hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said it was “deeply shaken and distressed” by the list of 34 hostages published by Asharq because it excluded the names of hostages still believed to be alive. In a statement, the group called for a comprehensive deal to release all the hostages.

Other stumbling blocks

Israeli and Hamas officials have both signaled flexibility regarding the identity and number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees Israel would release in exchange for Israeli hostages.

The stumbling blocks that remain include Hamas' demand for a timetable to end the war, Israeli troop withdrawals from Gaza and a return of Palestinians to areas they fled in the war.

The Hamas official said the group is insisting that Israel agree to an immediate end of war or to guarantee it ends within a certain timeframe, even if it is only a commitment for an unspecified “multi-year ceasefire.”

Even as Gaza ceasefire negotiations continued, Hamas praised a Palestinian shooting attack that killed three Israelis traveling on a bus Monday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Israel’s finance minister said the neighboring Palestinian village should face the same fate as a neighborhood in northern Gaza that Israeli forces have largely leveled in an offensive against Hamas in recent months.

Abu Bakr Bashir reported from London.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/06/hamas-and-israel-are-negotiating-release-of-34-hostages-from-gaza/