Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday said it has agreed to a list of 34 hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was quoted as saying that Hamas had not provided a hostage list. However, later on Sunday, the news agency reported that a Hamas official had provided it with the list containing the names of the 34 persons.

The persons will be released “whether alive or dead”, AFP quoted a Hamas official as saying. “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 added.

Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then, killing more than 46,600 persons, including over 17,400 children.

Some of the hostages were released in November 2023 as part of a brief ceasefire deal and others were killed as a result of the war.

Fresh negotiations are underway in the Qatari capital Doha to secure a ceasefire between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group before Donald Trump takes office as the United States president on January 20, Reuters reported. The talks are being mediated by neighbouring Egypt, Qatar and the United States’ Joe Biden administration.

Washington is an ally of Israel and acts as a guarantor of the country’s security.

Any agreement to release the hostages must be part of a deal that also requires Israel to withdraw its military from Gaza along with a permanent ceasefire, Reuters quoted an unidentified Hamas official as saying.

The Netanyahu government in Israel has repeatedly said that the war in Gaza will end only once the military and administrative capabilities of Hamas are dismantled.

The negotiations come amid intensified bombardment of Gaza. At least 100 persons were killed in the besieged Palestinian enclave this weekend, medics were quoted as saying.

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