The Zionist entity’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement that would see all the remaining captives freed.
“While the families wait hopefully and would welcome the release of any hostage from Hamas captivity, we continue to call for a comprehensive deal that will return ALL hostages immediately,” the Forum said in a statement.
“Every additional day in captivity endangers the lives of those still being held by Hamas terrorists, who are subjecting them to horrific conditions including starvation, physical abuse, and confinement in darkness,” the statement read.
“We urge the obvious, possible, and appropriate solution: end the war and return all the hostages, the living and the dead, immediately,” it added.
Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu told parents of a captive that he is working on a deal that would see 10 live hostages freed.
According to Israeli reports over the weekend, in its latest proposal, the Israeli occupation expressed readiness to lower the number of captives released.
The Ynet news site said Sunday that ‘Israel’ was waiting for a response from Hamas resistance group to a proposal to release nine or 10 living captives — including US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who was featured for the second time in a Hamas propaganda video released Saturday.
Hamas Says to Free Captives “If End to War Guaranteed”
Hamas has engaged in negotiations in Cairo with mediators from Egypt and Qatar. The group announced on Monday that is prepared to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a “serious prisoner swap” and guarantees that the Israeli occupation will end the war in Gaza.
“We are ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a serious prisoner swap deal, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid,” Taher Al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.
The official accused the Zionist occupation of obstructing progress toward a ceasefire.
“The issue is not the number of captives,” Nunu said, “but rather that the occupation is reneging on its commitments, blocking the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and continuing the war.”
“Hamas has therefore stressed the need for guarantees to compel the occupation [Israel] to uphold the agreement,” he added.
On the other hand, Reuters news agency quoted an Egyptian source as saying that Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the latest hostage-truce proposal.
The source said a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya has rejected an effort to restore the previous ceasefire agreement, stressing that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza.
However, Hamas has shown some flexibility over how many captives it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli occupation should a truce be extended, but asked for more time to consider the offer.
“Hamas has no problem, but it wants guarantees Israel agrees to begin the talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement” leading to an end to the war, the Egyptian source said.
Source: Israeli and Palestinian media (translated and edited by Al-Manar English Website)
