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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.