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‘Hamas Asks Gaza Terror Groups for Info on Hostages Ahead of Possible Deal’
Noa Argamani, a rescued hostage, embraces her father, Yakov Argamani, after the military said that Israeli forces have rescued four hostages alive from the central Gaza Strip, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on June 8, 2024. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS
JNS.org – Sources within terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip told AFP on Sunday that Hamas has ordered them to provide information on the captives they hold for a potential ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Israel.
Hamas told fellow terrorist organizations—including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees—to prepare information, including whether their hostages are alive or dead, AFP cited the sources as saying.
A Hamas source told the agency there had been “intensified contacts” between Hamas and Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators in recent days, and that the terrorist organization expected another round of negotiations with Jerusalem to kick off in Cairo “in the coming days.”
The same source called on the Jewish state to halt the war, saying the presence of Israel Defense Forces troops in the Gaza Strip made it “difficult to reach all the captive groups to know the details of the living and dead prisoners.”
According to official IDF figures, 96 of the 251 hostages who were taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault remain in Gaza after 425 days.
The Palestinian terrorist group is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the coastal enclave in 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014.
Jerusalem has pressured Hamas to the extent that a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with the Iranian-backed terrorist organization may be possible, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
“There is a chance that this time we will really be able to advance a hostage deal,” Katz said during a visit to soldiers at an Air Force base in central Israel.
On-and-off indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to renew last year’s hostage release agreement have dragged on for months, with the United States, Egypt, Qatar and others acting as intermediaries.
Early last week, a senior Hamas official told AFP that the terrorist group was sitting tight until global pressure forces Jerusalem to end the war.
“Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are making great efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange,” said the Hamas official, who was part of a meeting on the topic in Cairo on Sunday, referring to a possible exchange of hostages for Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israel.
“Our Palestinian people are waiting for American and international pressure on [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to stop the war and reach an agreement, as happened in Lebanon,” the official explained.
Reuters cited an internal Hamas document on Dec. 4 as saying that the terrorist group had indications that Israeli security forces were planning the rescue of hostages, similar to the raid that freed Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir Jan and Shlomi Ziv in June.
The confidential Hamas document, dated Nov. 22, tells terrorist operatives to execute hostages if such an operation takes place, and “not to consider any repercussions of following the instructions.”
The post ‘Hamas Asks Gaza Terror Groups for Info on Hostages Ahead of Possible Deal’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.