Gaza deal still elusive as Hamas names hostages it may free
Hamas disclosed a list of 34 hostages it’s willing to return to Israel in the first phase of a potential ceasefire in Gaza, which the U.S. wants to achieve before President Joe Biden leaves office in two weeks.
The Palestinian militant group circulated the list to Bloomberg and other media outlets, but didn’t clarify whether each person is alive or dead. The return of only living hostages in the first phase of a deal is one of Israel’s demands in fresh negotiations aimed at pausing the devastating war.
The U.S. says it’s working intensely to achieve a deal before Biden hands over to Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
There are still plenty of obstacles for the warring sides to overcome. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Monday saying the list originated with Israel, not Hamas. Israel gave it to mediators in July, he said.
“As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on the list,” he said. “Israel will continue to act relentlessly for the return of all of our hostages.”
At least two of the 34 people are dead, a Hamas official said.
As well as killing 1,200 people, Hamas took about 250 hostage when it raided southern Israel in October 2023, triggering the war. Israel’s air and ground assault on the Palestinian territory has killed more than 45,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Roughly 100 hostages are still in Gaza, though that figure includes both the living and the dead.
Hamas said it would need a week of ceasefire to reach out to operatives holding the hostages and learn about their condition, a request Israel has rejected. It’s also possible that some of them are held captive by militant groups other than Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and many other countries.
Other areas of contention include which Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.
The negotiations have sputtered along since Biden unveiled a three-phase plan in May to end a conflict that ignited other fronts and put Israel and Iran - sponsor of regional proxy groups such as Hamas - on a collision course.
“We’re working very hard to bring that over the finish line,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said from the South Korean capital Seoul on Monday. “And what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is a re-intensified engagement, including by Hamas, but we have yet to see agreement on the final points.”
Blinken said if the negotiations aren’t successful in the next fortnight, he hopes Trump will manage to get a ceasefire done soon after.
Hamas and Israel also disagree on what comes after the first part of a pause. Hamas wants Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza, while Israel says it wants to resume fighting to ensure the group is destroyed and unable to hold power in any part of the territory.
Both sides are mindful of the inauguration of Trump, who has warned there will be “all hell to pay” if hostages aren’t freed by the time he returns to the Oval Office.
“There are a number of issues on which there has been progress,” Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the country’s decision-making security cabinet, told Army Radio on Sunday. “With that, there are significant gaps on some of the issues. We hope that the gaps will be reduced in the discussions now being held in Qatar.”
The director of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, is preparing to go to the Qatari capital Doha on Monday or Tuesday, depending on developments, according to officials, another sign of possible progress.
Hamas has suffered huge losses in the past 15 months, but it is still able to launch rockets at Israel, including six times in the past week. Those salvos were mostly shot down or fell into empty space, though raised alarm among Israelis who had assumed such attacks were no longer possible. On Monday, three rockets were fired with one hitting a home in the town of Sderot.
Attack on bus in West Bank kills 3 Israelis, injures 8 others
At least three Israelis have been killed and eight other people injured in an attack in the northern West Bank, Israeli rescue workers said on Monday.
Two women and one man died while three people were injured, according to the ZAKA non-governmental rescue and recovery group.
A suspected Palestinian attacker had fired at a bus from a vehicle in al-Funduq, west of the city of Nablus, and was said to be on the run along with another individual, media reported.
“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and with all those who aided them,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “No one will get away.”
Some 800 West Bank Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli military operations, armed clashes and attacks by extremists, according to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
UN World Food Program says convoy hit in Gaza
The UN World Food Program said in a statement released on Monday that an aid convoy was shot at by Israeli forces near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in the Gaza Strip.
Eight of the staff involved were endangered by the Israeli shelling that occurred on Sunday, the organization reported. They were unharmed.
The aid convoy had been authorized by Israeli authorities, the WFP emphasized.
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today. Security conditions in Gaza must urgently improve for lifesaving humanitarian assistance to continue,” the WFP said.
It urged all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, and allow safe passage for humanitarian aid.
The Israeli army said it was looking into the report.
Several aid workers have been killed in Israeli aerial attacks in the course of the current Gaza war.
Bloomberg News writers Dan Williams and Courtney McBride, along with dpa correspondents, contributed to this report.
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This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 9:08 AM