The first report on the release of 34 Hamas hostages as part of the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement was made by BBC. The list includes 10 women and 11 elderly male hostages aged 50 to 85, as well as two children. The British broadcaster claims that the list was provided by a senior Hamas representative. It is unknown who from this list is still alive.
The publication reports that the list also includes several hostages who, according to Hamas, are ill.
Later, the Saudi newspaper «Asharq» published the full list of 34 hostages.
The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons called for an agreement under which all captives will be released. «The time has come for a comprehensive agreement that will bring back all the hostages—alive for healing, and the killed and fallen for a dignified burial. We will leave no one behind!» the group stated.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official told the newspaper The Times of Israel that the list of hostages circulated in the media is an Israeli list sent to Hamas in the past. «Hamas did not send any list,» the official said, adding that Israel did not receive official approval of the list.
The country's Foreign Ministry denied the data on the agreed list of hostages. A source familiar with the deal negotiations also told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the negotiations «are progressing slowly» and that Israel has not received «any list from Hamas regarding the hostages; we do not know who among the hostages is alive and what their conditions are.»
Photo: Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90