 "People check the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Al-Ahli hospital, also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab hospital, in Gaza City on April 13, 2025. AFP Photo")
Hamas is willing to release all Israeli hostages if Israel agrees to a comprehensive prisoner exchange, ends its military campaign in Gaza and allows humanitarian aid to enter the territory, a senior Hamas official said on Monday.
The announcement followed Hamas’s departure from Cairo after talks with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, who are working with the US to broker a ceasefire.
“We are ready for a complete exchange of captives, provided it comes with a serious agreement, an end to the aggression, a withdrawal of Israeli forces, and unrestricted aid access,” said Taher al-Nunu.
He accused Israel of stalling progress in the negotiations, saying, “The issue is not how many captives we hold, but that the occupation is reneging on its promises, prolonging the conflict, and blocking the ceasefire process.”
“Hamas has therefore stressed the need for guarantees to compel the occupation (Israel) to uphold the agreement,” he added. Israeli news website Ynet reported on Monday that a new proposal had been put to Hamas.
Under the deal, the group would release 10 living hostages in exchange for US guarantees that Israel would enter negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase of the ceasefire, which began on January 19 and included multiple hostage-prisoner exchanges, lasted two months before disintegrating.
Efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza have broken down, reportedly due to disagreements over how many hostages Hamas would release, with 58 individuals still believed to be held in the enclave.
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More ShortsHighlighting the stalled negotiations, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of the captives, criticized the phased-release proposal. “The phased method wastes valuable time and jeopardizes all of the hostages,” the group said. “We demand the only feasible and just solution: end the war and return all the hostages at once.”
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu reiterated that the group would not give up its arms—an Israeli precondition for ending the war. “The weapons of the resistance are not up for negotiation,” Nunu declared.
According to the Israeli military, militants initially took 251 hostages during the October 7 attack; 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead. Gaza’s health ministry reported that 1,613 Palestinians have been killed since March 18, when the last ceasefire collapsed, bringing the overall Palestinian death toll to 50,983 since the war began.
With inputs from agencies