Report: Hamas told mediators it intends to include remains of dead hostages among 33 to be released in 1st phase

Hamas intends to include the remains of several dead hostages among the 33 captives it says it will release in the first phase of a hostage and truce deal it proposed, The New York Times reports.
The report, citing two people familiar with the talks, says that the terror group informed mediators that not all of those to be released were still alive. The first phase was expected to include women, children, the elderly and ill.
Israel has previously insisted that the first stage include only living hostages and had reduced its demand from 40 hostages, with the understanding that not all those in that category were still alive.
Hamas said yesterday it had accepted a deal put forward by mediators. Israel, however, said that what Hamas put forward was significantly different from what Israel had agreed to.
Hamas officials said the first phase would include a 42-day truce period, with Hamas releasing 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of large numbers of Palestinian security prisoners from Israeli jails.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says that the Hamas offer was far from meeting Israel’s essential demands, but that it would send negotiators to continue talks with the US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators.
It is believed that 128 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 12 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 35 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.