Hamas said told to respond to ‘final’ draft by midnight, reportedly gave list of living hostages to Qatar

Mediators have told Hamas to respond to the “final” draft of a hostage-ceasefire deal by midnight tonight, Channel 12 reports.

The TV report also says that, according to unnamed sources, Hamas has given a list to Qatari mediators of living hostages, as Israel has been demanding, and that this list has presumably been seen by Israel.

It adds, without citing sources, that all living and dead hostages on a list of 34 names — of women, children and elderly and infirm men — published last week will be released in the first, 42-day phase of the deal if it comes to fruition. (There are now 33 relevant names on the list, with the body of hostage Youssef Ziyadne, 53, recovered by the IDF from a Gaza tunnel last week.)

There will be a “very significant” release of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange, it says, including many murderers. The IDF will withdraw from a significant part of Gaza, and displaced residents of northern Gaza will be able to return.

It says that the release of hostages would begin a week after the truce takes effect.

The report says talks on the second phase of the deal would begin 16 days after the deal takes effect. All remaining living hostages — all of them males aged under 50 — would be freed in that phase.

Regarding Hamas’s demand for an “end of the war,” the report says such language is unlikely to be used, and that instead there will be references to “a permanent ceasefire.”