12:26 p.m. ET, December 1, 2023
If Hamas presents a suitable list of hostages for release, hostilities would cease, sources said
By CNN’s Alex Marquardt, MJ Lee and Arlette Saenz As fighting resumes in the Israel-Hamas war, both sides continue to negotiate through mediators over the possible release of hostages from Gaza, which would lead to another pause in hostilities, three sources familiar with the discussions said. The negotiating parties – Israel and Hamas, in consultation with Qatar, the US and Egypt – are still actively discussing the release of the remaining female hostages, one of the sources said.
According to these sources, there is agreement that a Hamas list of prisoners deemed acceptable by Israel would restore the ceasefire. Israel estimates that 20 women and two children under 18 are still being held hostage out of a total of 137 hostages, the prime minister’s office said on Friday.
If the presumed last group of remaining civilian women were to be successfully released, the parameters of the negotiations would quickly impact another category of hostages: civilian men as well as military reservists – both men and women, two sources said.
Some background information: During negotiations that stretched into early Friday and after the ceasefire deadline, Hamas failed to provide a list of hostages that Israeli officials could accept, sources said. In particular, according to one source, there has been a heated argument over Hamas’s claims that some of the women it is holding captive are soldiers – which Israel denies.
Hamas had previously argued that women under 45 should be considered reservists rather than civilians, according to a person familiar with the talks. According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, most women still being held hostage are under 45 years old.
Hamas has claimed it has no additional women and children in its custody that could be released, suggesting that the remaining women and children may be in the hands of other groups. Under the previous agreement, Hamas had to release ten women and children hostages for each day of the ceasefire, with three Palestinians released from Israeli prisons for each hostage.