34 hostages are listed by Hamas that it may release during a truce

A senior Hamas official has provided the BBC with a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group claims it is prepared to release as part of the initial phase of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The status of those on the list remains uncertain, with no confirmation of how many are still alive. The list includes 10 women, 11 elderly men aged between 50 and 85, and young children whom Hamas previously alleged were killed in an Israeli airstrike. It also reportedly features hostages with illnesses.

Over the weekend, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes killed more than 100 people in the territory.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office, however, denied that Hamas had formally provided a list of hostages, stating:
“The list of abductees published in the media was not passed on to Israel by Hamas, but was originally passed from Israel to intermediaries as early as July 2024. To date, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the abductees on the list.”

Observers view Hamas’s decision to release the names of hostages as a potential effort to increase public pressure on the Israeli government.

Ceasefire negotiations, held in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, have yet to yield significant progress. A Hamas official, speaking anonymously to Reuters, indicated that the release of Israeli hostages would hinge on a broader agreement involving Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

“However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement on the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the official said.

Hamas also released a video featuring 19-year-old Israeli captive Liri Albag, urging her government to negotiate a deal. Albag was captured alongside six other female conscript soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base near the Gaza border during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

That attack saw Hamas-led militants kill approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel and take 251 others hostage.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, resulting in the deaths of at least 45,805 people in Gaza as of Saturday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

On Saturday alone, the ministry reported 88 deaths from Israeli airstrikes, with Reuters citing health sources on Sunday that another 17 had died in four separate strikes. The Israeli military stated its air force targeted over 100 “terrorist” sites in Gaza over the weekend, claiming the lives of dozens of Hamas militants.