Hostage deal: Hamas and Israel want to exchange prisoners

The Islamist Hamas says it is once again negotiating indirectly with Israel about a possible exchange of more hostages from the Gaza Strip for Palestinian prisoners. As the German Press Agency learned from Hamas circles, Qatar and Egypt, as mediators, have already been given the names of some hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is also working with other groups in the Gaza Strip to list the names of all hostages. Hamas emphasized that the talks could lead to positive results if Israel then adheres to a possible agreement.

The Arabic news channel “Asharq”, citing people familiar with the deal, reported that Israel would release no fewer than 100 prisoners in return for a previously unknown number of hostages held by Hamas. There was no official confirmation of this.

The German Press Agency learned from negotiating circles that there had recently been some progress in the talks. Hamas is showing itself to be more flexible in the negotiations than before. In recent months there has been virtually no progress at all in the talks.

Terrorists from Hamas and other groups abducted a total of more than 250 people from Israel to the sealed-off coastal area on October 7th last year. Around 1,200 people were killed in the unprecedented terrorist attack. It was the trigger for the Gaza War, in which, according to Palestinian figures, more than 44,500 people were killed in Gaza.

As part of a ceasefire at the end of November 2023, Hamas released 105 hostages. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from prisons. Since then, individual hostages have been freed by the military, and several have been recovered dead. How many of the hostages are still alive remains to be seen. “Asharq News” reported, citing people in the know, that Hamas had given the mediator Egypt an initial list of names of the hostages who were still alive.