Hamas has announced that it is willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on 19 January despite multiple Israeli violations.
Israel’s foreign minister said that talks would begin “this week” on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.
Under the ceasefire’s first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released by militants so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.
Wednesday’s offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.
Hamas also agreed to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.
After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.
Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, “Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost”, albeit with some “red lines”.
Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas’s capacity to fight or govern, something the militant group has rejected.
But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu’s government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier’s hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.
This gives Netanyahu “more room to pressure Hamas”, Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump “prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he’s leaving the field open to Netanyahu as long as the ceasefire is maintained”.
