On Wednesday, Hamas offered to release all remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem made the offer in a statement outlining the Palestinian group’s conditions for a second phase of the ceasefire deal.
“We are ready for a second phase in which the prisoners will be exchanged in one go, within the criterion of reaching an agreement that leads to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Strip,” Qassem said, according to Al Jazeera.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands for the second phase include Hamas being disarmed and removed from Gaza, which Qassem rejected. Netanyahu also wants the Palestinian Authority not to be involved in Gaza.
“The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip is a ridiculous psychological war, and the withdrawal or disarmament of the resistance from Gaza is unacceptable,” Qassem said.
Hamas is releasing six Israeli hostages on Saturday, twice the amount initially agreed to under the ceasefire deal. Qassem said Hamas was doubling the number of prisoners to be released “in response to a request from the mediators and to prove our seriousness in implementing all the terms of the agreement.”
On Thursday, Palestinian Islamic Jihad will release the body of one Israeli captive, and Hamas will release three bodies, including Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were only aged four and nine months when kidnapped during the October 7 attack on southern Israel. Hamas said in November 2023 that the Bibas children and their mother were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
The Mujahideen Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement that operates separately from Hamas, said that it has been “preserving” the bodies of the Bibas family and confirmed they would be released on Thursday.
Amid the negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinian security sources told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that since the truce went into effect on January 19, Israel had violated the ceasefire 266 times, killing 132 Palestinians.
