‘No one has any idea’ how many Israeli hostages are alive, says Hamas official

A senior Hamas official has said the group does not know how many of the Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza are still alive, as Israeli and Hamas sources set out positions that could undermine the possibility of an imminent ceasefire deal.

The Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in an interview with CNN that “no one has any idea” how many of the remaining 120 hostages captured on 7 October last year were still alive, amid Israeli estimates that at least a third had died in captivity or were killed when seized.

Reiterating Hamas’s position on the US-supported ceasefire proposal, now backed by a UN security council resolution, he said the group needed “a clear position from Israel to accept the ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and let the Palestinians to determine their future by themselves”.

He also referred to the need for reconstruction and the end of the years-long Israeli blockade of Gaza. “[Then] we are ready to talk about a fair deal about the prisoners exchange,” he said.