Hamas has approved a list of 34 Israeli hostages to be exchanged in a possible ceasefire deal, Reuters reported, citing a Hamas official.
The Israeli government denied receiving a list of hostages from Hamas, adding that the names published in the media are from an older list that Israel had presented to mediators.
“Contrary to what was claimed, Hamas has yet to provide a list of hostages,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“The list of hostages published in the media was not provided to Israel by Hamas but was originally transferred from Israel to the mediators back in July 2024,” Netanyahu’s office said. “So far, Israel has not received any confirmation or response from Hamas regarding the status of the hostages on the list.”
Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified Hamas official, that the release of the hostages would be contingent on reaching an agreement regarding Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas are also negotiating the number and identities of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who would be released in exchange for the hostages.
It is not clear which hostages are on the list reported by Reuters, or whether they are living or dead. In recent weeks, Israel has told CNN they have yet to receive a full list of living hostages from the militant group.
This comes just days after indirect negotiations for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal resumed in the Qatari capital Doha, talks that have so far shown few signs of progress, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials.
A source familiar with the matter told CNN that despite reports of new “optimism” around talks, “there is not much new, slow progress for now.”
White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk is among the officials in Doha, a US official and another person familiar with the matter told CNN. Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is expected to travel to Washington this week and meet with Biden administration and Trump transition officials, according to an Israeli source.
“What we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is a re-intensified engagement, including by Hamas, but we have yet to see agreement on the final points,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a trip to South Korea on Monday. “We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining.”
On Saturday, Hamas turned up the pressure on Israel at the negotiating table, releasing a video of 19-year-old hostage Liri Albag.
Albag’s family called on Netanyahu to seize the opportunity for a ceasefire deal, describing the footage as having “torn our hearts to pieces.”
As of December 5, Hamas was still holding 100 hostages in Gaza, most of whom were abducted during the militant group’s October 7, 2023, cross-border attacks, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Of the hostages remaining in captivity in Gaza, at least 36 are believed to be dead, according to Netanyahu’s office.
CNN has reached out to Hamas and the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum for comment.
Attacks continue
While negotiations in Doha are underway, Israeli attacks in Gaza continued on Sunday.
Israeli strikes on a residential building in northern Gaza killed 12 members of the same family, with more trapped under the rubble, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense.
Four airstrikes targeted the house of the Zuhd family in the district of Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City, the Civil Defense said.
CNN footage from the strike’s aftermath shows people desperately digging through the wreckage for survivors. Ammar Zuhd told CNN that a child was pulled out alive from the rubble and 11 other people were missing.
The footage also shows a young man’s lifeless body hanging suspended from an upper floor of the house. “This is my nephew; do you see how he is hanging? He was a young man who hadn’t yet married; he was just starting his life at 20 years old,” Zuhd said.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the target of the strikes.
Local Palestinians told CNN they fear the Sheikh Radwan area is turning into a “red zone” amid the destruction.
“They attack us every day now, with missiles and bombs dropped by drones among the people. Everyone is at risk of being bombed at any moment,” Wissam Zuhd said.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital said it had been overwhelmed tending to casualties.
“Operating rooms are packed with critically injured patients, hallways filled with those waiting for surgery, and beds occupied by the suffering. The gate is crowded with bodies for burial,” Dr. Fadel Naim posted to X.
“We’ve never witnessed such horrors,” he said, adding that if the Israeli attacks did not end soon, the hospital would “no longer be able to handle the influx of victims.”
Gaza’s health ministry reported Sunday that 88 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours, bringing the cumulative death toll of Israel’s war on Hamas to at least 45,805 people, with more than 109,000 injured in the enclave as a result of Israeli military operations since October 2023.
CNN’s Alex Marquardt, Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman and Caitlin Danaher contributed to this report.
