Preparing for deal, Hamas tells fellow Gazan terror groups to identify hostages they hold

Sources within various Palestinian terror groups in Gaza say that Hamas has told them to compile information on the hostages they hold in preparation for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel.

Hamas has told factions including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front and the Popular Resistance Committees to prepare information such as whether their hostages are alive or dead, the sources tell AFP.

It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas in the October 7, 2023, onslaught remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Qatar’s prime minister said yesterday that there was renewed “momentum” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

A Hamas source told AFP there had been “intensified contacts” recently between Hamas and Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators, and that the group expects a new round of talks in Cairo “will begin in the coming days.”

The same source called on Israel to halt the war, claiming the presence of its forces made it “difficult to reach all the captive groups to know the details of the living and dead prisoners.”

Israel has long said it won’t halt fighting without the return of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas as a military and governing force in Gaza.