Hamas says it does not have the 40 hostages needed to sign ceasefire in Gaza

The Islamist organization Hamas has informed the negotiators of a ceasefire with Israel that currently unable to identify and locate the 40 Israeli hostages needed for an exchange for Palestinian prisonersaccording to the chain cnn.

The Hamas message, which an official Israeli source and another related to the negotiations reported to the television news network, raises fears that there may be more hostages killed than is publicly known.

cnnwhich does not identify its sources, remembers that The framework set by negotiators to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza calls for a six-week pause in fighting by Israel and the release by Hamas of 40 hostages, including all women, as well as sick and elderly men..

In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails.

Hamas has told international mediators – including Qatar and Egypt – that it does not have those 40 live hostages in its possession who meet the criteria for release, both sources told the news agency. cnn.

Investigations carried out by the US network on the situation of the hostages also suggest that there are fewer than 40 hostages alive who meet the criteria proposed in the negotiations.

And given that Hamas seems unable to hand over the 40 kidnapped people requested, Israel has pushed for the Islamist organization to complete the initial release with younger male hostages, including soldiers, the Israeli official said..

Most of the nearly 100 hostages still alive are believed to be male Israeli Army soldiers or men of military reserve age.

It is expected that Hamas attempts to use them in later phases to try to negotiate more significant concessions.including more high-level prisoners and a permanent end to the war.

Hamas may not return to Cairo

However, this Thursday Palestinian sources familiar with the talks told EFE that Hamas might not return to the negotiating table in Cairo, where the round of consultations to reach a truce in Gaza was taking place, by rejecting the majority of the mediators' proposals,

The Islamist group plans to send the new document with its reformulated proposals to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, without a delegation traveling to the Egyptian capital again.indicated two Palestinian sources, one from Hamas and another from the Palestinian Government, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of this issue.

In this document, the group will express that it rejects most of the proposals reached last Sunday in Cairo by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, according to the informants.

This reaction comes after Hamas announced that it was studying the latest truce proposal resulting from the negotiations in Cairo, which according to Israeli media would allow the release of 40 hostages in Gaza in exchange for a temporary ceasefire of at least six weeks and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian sources did not detail anything about the 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas who would be part of the exchange.