LIVE UPDATE FROM THE LIVEBLOG OF MONDAY,

DECEMBER 9, 2024

Report: Hamas submits list of names for hostage-prisoner swap, including US citizens held captive

The Hamas terror group has submitted a list of hostages it proposes to free in the first stage of a ceasefire deal with Israel in addition to a list of Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel that it wants released, the London-based pan-Arab news site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

The report, citing a source close to the talks, says Israel is evaluating the list and could send a delegation to Cairo later today.

Reports have said that the sides are working on a partial deal under which hostages in the “humanitarian” category would be freed in return for an extended ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The humanitarian category includes elderly, children, women, ill and badly wounded hostages. The number of living hostages in these groups is today understoodto be fewer than the 33 that was previously discussed in talks over past months.

The report also says that Hamas is proposing to release four hostages with US citizenship, some of whom do not not fall under the humanitarian category, in an apparent gesture to incoming US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to punish those responsible if the hostages aren’t released before his inauguration.

For more than a year, waves of negotiations have stalled and failed to reach another agreement to return the hostages still held in Gaza, after 105 of them were released in a weeklong truce in late November 2023. Israel believes that 96 of the 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7 are still in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Over the past 14 months, IDF troops have rescued eight hostages and recovered the bodies of 38.

(Hamas responding to Trump, but are they are asking too much)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-hamas-submits-list-of-names-for-hostage-prisoner-swap-including-us-citizens-held-captive/