On Sunday, it was reported that Hamas had responded to the mediators’ proposal by agreeing to release only about 20 hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire. This was half of the original number of hostages that were planned to be released, according to an Israeli official. The official noted that Hamas was using “ridiculous excuses” to explain the reduction in the number of abductees they were willing to release in the first phase of the deal, such as claiming that some of the abductees were not alive or not in their hands.
Hamas was demanding higher “keys,” meaning the release of more Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli abductee, and had increased their demand regarding the number of world prisoners to be released. The Israeli official pointed out that Hamas had divided the agreement into several phases and was binding them together. They were conditioning the implementation of phase one on providing international guarantees to end the war in phase two of the deal.
Additionally, Hamas demanded the withdrawal of IDF forces from large areas in the Gaza Strip in phase one, allowing for the full return of Palestinians to the north of the Gaza Strip and full freedom of movement in the entire strip starting from phase one of the deal. The Israeli official stated that Hamas had completely changed
