The Hamas militant group has stated that they do not currently hold 40 living captives who meet the “humanitarian” criteria for a proposed prisoner exchange ceasefire with Israel.
A senior Israeli official confirmed Hamas’s claim made during discussions in Cairo over the weekend, acknowledging that Hamas lacks the required number of eligible captives for the proposed exchange.
Negotiations for a ceasefire have centered on a US-supported plan that involves a phased swap of captives and prisoners.
Initially, women, children, the elderly, and individuals with health issues including five female Israeli soldiers—would be exchanged for around 900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, alongside a six-week ceasefire in Gaza.
Hamas appears hesitant to fulfill the quota for the exchange involving surviving male captives. Concrete details on the number of remaining captives, their whereabouts, and captors have been challenging to obtain.
CIA Director William Burns has introduced a new proposal aimed at bridging the differences between the two parties.
The US is pressuring Israel to agree to release 900 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase of a three-part agreement, as well as permitting the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.
Despite discussions resuming on Sunday, there has been no indication of progress on a plan put forward by US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators, which Hamas has indicated it is reviewing.
Approximately 240 captives, including individuals taken during Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, were brought into Gaza during the incident.
To date, 112 captives have been returned alive to Israel. Among them, 105 were released in an earlier exchange. Prior to that, Hamas unilaterally released four prisoners, while three others were rescued by the Israel Defense Forces.
In the months following October 7, Israel has disclosed that some individuals believed to have been alive when abducted were actually killed during the initial Hamas attack.
Hamas has alleged that some captives died in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. In a significant friendly-fire incident, Israel accidentally killed three escaped male captives as they approached Israeli troops.
