Israel-Hamas war: Families of hostages protest in Tel Aviv | Photo: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg Israel-Hamas war: Families of hostages protest in Tel Aviv | Photo: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg

Amid negotiations in Qatar, Palestinian militant group Hamas has said it is ready to release 34 hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

Reuters and AFP, citing officials from the militant group, stated that the group is ready to release some of the hostages "as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal."

Hamas has maintained it would release Israel hostages only if Israeli authorities release Palestinian prisoners.

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As reported by AFP, the first swap will include the release of women, children, elderly and sick captives in Gaza.

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"Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead. However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead,” the official told AFP.

Furthermore, Reuters also cited an unnamed Hamas official saying that the ceasefire deal would only be carried out if Israel agreed to a permanent ceasefire and withdrew its troops from the war-torn strip.

Israel has stated it is yet to receive a list of the captives that will be released.

This demand from Hamas comes a day after the militant group released video footage of 19-year-old Liri Albag, one of the hostages abducted on October 7, 2023.

Israel-Hamas Ceasefire To Be Done In Phases

Based on the plan devised by US President Joe Biden, Israel and Hamas are once again locked in negotiations over the ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. This ceasefire is expected to be carried out in three phases -

Phase 1 will last for six weeks, during which a ceasefire will be active, hostages—women and children, the injured, and the elderly—will be released, and humanitarian aid will also be sent in.

However, not everyone from the team flew back home as PR Sreejesh stayed back in the French capital for the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Phase 2 will come towards the end of the first phase. In this, more hostages will be released in return of the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. As per the White House, Israeli forces would begin to withdraw from Gaza.

Phase 3 will work towards the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza to mark a "permanent cessation of hostilities."

The war on Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched a terror attack in southern Israel. The Hamas attack resulted in the killing of 1,200 people and the abduction of 250 hostages.

Since then, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment of Gaza Strip55bmw, killing 45,000 Palestinians, of which, women and children have been attributed for over half of the deaths.