GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – A senior Hamas member on Monday denied media reports that the Palestinian group has reached a prisoner swap agreement with the occupying regime.
“Reports about a prisoner swap deal are untrue,” Izzat al-Rishq said in a brief statement.
Israeli newspapers also denied reports about a deal with Hamas to exchange prisoners. “There is nothing yet,” The Jerusalem Post daily said, citing a senior Israeli official.
On Sunday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stated that a hostage exchange deal between the occupying regime and Hamas was “imminent”.
Also on Monday, an Israeli official said that progress has been made in the Qatar-mediated talks aimed at freeing some of the 240 captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news, the proposed deal includes the release of about 50 women and children, who would be released in several stages. In exchange, Palestinian women and minors currently held in Israeli prisons would be released, in addition to a few-day pause in the relentless Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The official, speaking to Xinhua on condition of anonymity, said that talks resumed on Sunday after a brief hiatus during which Hamas refused to negotiate, citing Israeli raids on Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center.
“There is progress in the efforts to free the hostages but nothing is final yet,” said the official.
Hamas is believed to be holding at least 239 Israelis following a surprise operation on Oct. 7. The Palestinian group says it is ready to release the captives in return for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
At least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 9,000 women and children, and more than 30,000 others injured in the occupying regime’s air and ground attacks since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures.
An Israeli blockade has also cut Gaza off from fuel, electricity and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a small trickle.