Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if
Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce agreement implemented
Hamas said on Saturday it will only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements their ceasefire agreement, calling it an “exceptional deal”
CAIRO — Hamas said on Saturday it will only release an American-Israeli and
the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements their ceasefire
agreement, calling it an “exceptional deal” aimed at getting the truce back on
track.
Israeli strikes meanwhile killed eight people in the Gaza
Strip, including a local reporter, according to medics.
A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the
ceasefire's second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no
longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of
humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza's border
with Egypt.
Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian
prisoners in exchange for hostages, said the official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Edan Alexander, 21, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey,
was abducted from his military base during Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that
ignited the war, and is the last living American citizen held in Gaza. Hamas
still has a total of 59 hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
Two Israeli airstrikes in the northern town of Beit
Lahiya near the border killed at least eight people, including a local reporter
who was operating a drone. The Indonesian Hospital confirmed receiving the
bodies, and Fares Awad, a local health official, identified one of the dead as
local reporter Mahmoud Islim. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli
military.
There has been no major fighting since the ceasefire took
hold on January 19, but Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians who
the military said had entered unauthorised areas, engaged in militant
activities or otherwise violated the truce.
Israel has cast
doubt on Hamas' offer
There was no immediate comment on Hamas' offer from
Israel, where government offices were closed for the weekly Sabbath. Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Friday accused Hamas of “psychological
warfare” after the initial offer, before the militant group spelled out the
conditions.
The United States said it presented on Wednesday a
proposal to extend the ceasefire a few more weeks as the sides negotiate a
permanent truce. It said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while
privately making “entirely impractical” demands.
Negotiations continued in Egypt after senior Hamas leader
Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo on Friday. Egypt and Qatar served as key
mediators with Hamas in reaching the ceasefire and have continued to host talks
aimed at getting it back on track.
Under the ceasefire agreement reached in January, Israel
and Hamas were to begin negotiations over a second phase — in which Hamas would
release all the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting truce — in early
February, but so far only preparatory talks have been held.
After the first phase ended at the beginning of this
month, Israel said it had agreed to a new US proposal in which Hamas would
release half the remaining hostages in return for a vague commitment to
negotiate a lasting ceasefire.
Hamas rejected that offer, accusing Israel of backtracking
on the signed agreement and trying to sabotage the truce.
Palestinian
official says no fuel left for water wells
Israel has barred the delivery of food, fuel and other
supplies to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians, and cut electricity to the
territory, to pressure Hamas to accept the new proposal.
The city of Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, said it
could no longer provide fuel needed to pump water from dozens of wells across
the city.
Ahmed al-Sufi, head of the municipality, said fuel
shortages caused by the Israeli siege have forced it to “suspend essential
services, threatening the lives of thousands and exacerbating the health and
environmental crisis”.
The first phase of the truce saw the release of 25
Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000
Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces pulled back to a buffer zone along Gaza's
border and allowed a surge of humanitarian aid.
An Israeli official said last month that Israel will not
withdraw from the so-called Philadelphi corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border,
as called for in the ceasefire agreement. Israel has cited the need to combat
weapons smuggling.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern
Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
taking 251 hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other
deals, while Israel has rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies
of dozens more.
Israel's military offensive has killed over 48,000
Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry,
which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has
killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced most
of the population and left nearly everyone dependent on international aid to
survive.
