A person walks past pictures of hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas from Gaza, projected on a screen, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica
i24 News – Negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages are still ongoing, yet Hamas is raising new demands regarding wounded hostages and refuses to provide a list of living hostages; moreover, whoever conducts the negotiations on their behalf does not necessarily control the happening on the ground, i24NEWS learned on Friday.
Israel applies heavy pressure on Hamas to live up to the promises.
While the Israeli negotiations team has returned from Doha, the talks for the hostage deal are still ongoing, not affected by the team’s physical presence. According to sources familiar with the details, Hamas poses serious problems that hinder the ability to close the deal, chief among them – the list of hostages whose release should be prioritized on humanitarian grounds.
Israel, i24NEWS can report, insists on complete lists of live hostages, but these have not yet been received. Also, as i24NEWS learned, Hamas refuses to release wounded hostages as part of the humanitarian list and attempts to demand special compensation for them.
Israeli negotiators are unwilling to accept changes to conditions established earlier and exert heavy pressure on the group from various directions.
Officials in Jerusalem say they hope that Hamas will decide to come together to conclude the deal, because the decision is entirely theirs.
Another serious concern for Israel, i24NEWS learned, is that those who conduct the negotiations on behalf of Hamas do not necessarily control the happening on the ground. This, as the dust has not yet settled on the decision-making and organizational structure of Hamas after the elimination of its leader Yahya Sinwar, making it extremely complicated to manage the talks. Israeli officials want to make sure that whoever represents the terrorist group vis-à-vis the mediators is also able to return the hostages from the hands of Hamas in Gaza.
At the same time, Jerusalem believes that the various conditions that pressure Hamas are still valid and even growing: the achievements against Hezbollah and against Iran, the collapse of Syria, and the weakening of the Shiite axis, the strikes in Yemen, the anti-terror activity in Judea and Samaria, the IDF activity in Jabaliya, in Beit Hanon and Rafah, as well as in the Karni-Netzarim corridor, together with the impending coming into office of the Trump administration, work to press Hamas to a point of great isolation, where it would be desperate for a ceasefire.
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