Sawt Falasteen - Israel says Hamas knows 'exactly' where hostages are after offer

The offer from Hamas came as Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip, where rescuers said 13 people were killed Monday.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza war broke out, Israeli officials said three people were killed in an attack by gunmen.

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been working for months to strike a deal to end the fighting in Gaza, but both warring sides have accused the other of derailing the negotiations.

In recent days, mediators have resumed indirect talks, and a senior Hamas official said late Sunday that the group was prepared to release an initial batch of captives but would need "a week of calm" to determine whether they were still alive.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, however, rejected that claim on Monday.

"They know precisely who is alive and who is dead. They know precisely where the hostages are," Mencer told journalists in an online briefing.

"Gaza is a very small place. Hamas know exactly where they are."

In an earlier statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said "Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages", adding those slated for inclusion were part of a list "originally given by Israel to the mediators" last year.

The Hamas official, requesting anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations, had also said the group came from a list presented by Israel, and would include all the women, children, elderly and sick captives still held in Gaza.

"Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead," the official told AFP, but the group needed time "to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead".

- 'Ceasefire now' -

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza, Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of those are dead.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called Monday for a "comprehensive agreement" to secure the release of hostages.

"We know more than half are still alive and need immediate rehabilitation, while those who were murdered must be returned for proper burial," it said in a statement.

Since the war broke out, there has been only one truce in November 2023 that saw 105 hostages freed, including scores of Israelis handed over in exchange for 240 Palestinians released from Israeli jails.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.

"If we don't get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I'm confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later," Blinken said on a visit to Seoul.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of "hell to pay" if it does not free the hostages.

Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported Monday that negotiations with Hamas "are approaching a crossroads, and Israeli decision makers are optimistic that a deal can be finalised within the next few days".

Some Israeli news websites reported that the chief of Israel's spy agency Mossad was joining the country's negotiators in Doha on Monday.

- Strikes in Gaza -

Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory's civil defence agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory.

In the West Bank, gunmen killed three people on Monday when they opened fire on a bus and other vehicles near the village of Al-Funduq, Israeli emergency service providers said.

"We will reach the despicable murderers and hold them, as well as anyone who assisted them, accountable," Netanyahu said in a statement from his office.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.

Since then, Israel's military offensive has killed 45,854 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

R.Shaban--SF-PST