The Islamist movement was ready to
release all the Israeli soldiers it is holding captive in exchange for all
Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, said a senior Hamas official amid
negotiations to extend a truce over Gaza, on Wednesday.
Hamas official and former Gaza Health Minister
Bassem Naim said the group was going through “hard negotiations” to extend a
cessation of hostilities that was scheduled to end after a six-day pause in
fighting early Thursday.
“We are ready to release all soldiers in
exchange for all our prisoners,” Naim told a press conference in Cape Town,
during a visit to South Africa.
Gaza’s Hamas group took about 240
captives from southern Israel in an unprecedented October 7 attack that Israeli
officials say killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
In response, Israel has vowed to
eliminate Hamas and has unleashed an air and ground campaign that the Hamas Government
says has killed nearly 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.
Sixty Israeli hostages and 180
Palestinian prisoners have been released under the truce agreement to the joy
of their relatives.
Among the hostages still held by Hamas
are soldiers, who are excluded from the exchange agreement, and the Islamist
movement is likely to use then as an important bargaining chip.
In 2011, more than 1,000 Palestinians
were exchanged for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been taken prisoner by
Hamas five years earlier.
Activist groups say there are more than
7,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, many of them far more prominent than the
youngsters and women freed so far.
Hamas had already in October demanded
Israel release all Palestinian prisoners but at the time offered to let go all
hostages in exchange.
The new proposal came as efforts
intensified to extend the halt in hostilities, with a source close to the Hamas
group saying Hamas was willing to extend the truce by another four days and
release more Israeli hostages.
“We are trying with the mediators to
negotiate a permanent ceasefire,” Naim said.
Earlier Israel’s Army said it was
investigating a report by Hamas’s armed wing that a 10-month-old baby hostage,
his four-year-old brother and their mother had all been killed in Gaza.
“We have confirmed two to three weeks
ago that 60 Israelis have been killed under Israeli bombardment and are still
under the rubble,” Naim said.
“The woman and her two children are
among them, I can confirm that.”
AFP
