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The head of the Hamas group has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is ready to release in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel.
It is not known how many of those named are still alive.
Among them are 10 women and 11 adult hostages between the ages of 50 and 85, as well as small children who Hamas previously said were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Many hostages that Hamas says are ill are also included in the list.
Reports from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli airstrikes killed more than 100 people there over the weekend.
The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages.
“The list of abductees published in the media was not provided to Israel by Hamas, but was provided from Israel to the mediators from July 2024,” it said.
“So far, Israel has received no confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the abductees on the list.”
Hamas’ decision to release the names of the hostages will be seen by some as an attempt to increase public pressure on the Israeli government.
Ceasefire talks resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but the talks appear to have made little progress.
A senior Hamas official told Reuters that any agreement to return Israeli prisoners would depend on an agreement for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and end the war once and for all.
“However, until now, the mission continues to disagree on the ceasefire and cease fire, and no action has been taken,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In the past, Hamas posted a video of 19-year-old Israeli citizen Liri Albag to encourage his government to make a deal.
She was captured along with six other female soldiers at the Nahal Oz military base on the Gaza border during a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
On that day, Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and capturing 251 others.
Israel’s military operation against Hamas has killed at least 45,805 people in Gaza since Saturday, according to Hamas’ health ministry in the region.
The same source said Israeli airstrikes killed 88 people in Gaza on Saturday, while on Sunday, Reuters quoted health officials as saying 17 more had died in four Israeli airstrikes in the area.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its air force had struck more than 100 “terrorist” positions across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants.
