Hamas official says ready to free 34 Gaza hostages under mooted deal

AFP: A Hamas official said Sunday the group was ready to free 34 hostages in the "first phase" of a potential deal with Israel, after Israel said indirect talks on a truce and hostage release agreement had resumed in Qatar.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have tried for months to strike a deal to end the war. The latest effort comes just days before Donald Trump takes office as president of the United States on January 20.

The talks took place as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into the war.

During that time there has been only one truce, a one-week pause in November 2023 that saw 80 Israeli hostages freed along with 240 Palestinians from Israeli jails.

Now, "Hamas has agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal," said an official of the Palestinian militants.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had yet to provide a list of hostages for potential release under an agreement.

The Hamas official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the ongoing negotiations with the media, said the initial swap would include all the women, children, elderly people and sick captives still held in Gaza.

But Hamas needed time to determine their condition, he added.

"Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead," the official said. "However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead."

During their attack on October 7, 2023 which began the Gaza war, militants seized 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of those are dead.

Until the Hamas official's comment there had been no update on the talks, which both warring sides were to resume in Qatar over the weekend.

"Efforts are under way to free the hostages, notably the Israeli delegation which left yesterday (Friday) for negotiations in Qatar," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told relatives of a hostage on Saturday, according to his office.