Hamas approves Israeli list of hostages for potential exchange

(CNN) — Hamas has approved an Israeli list of 34 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 but did not directly respond to the substance of the Reuters report.

The Reuters news agency reported on Sunday, citing an anonymous 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 still negotiating the number and identities of Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange for the hostages.

The Reuters report suggested the list had been presented by Israel.

However, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office appeared to cast doubt on the report.

“Contrary to what was claimed, Hamas has yet to provide a list of hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

CNN has asked the Prime Minister’s Office if Israel had put forward a list of 34 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 Doha, talks that have so far shown few signs of progress, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials.

White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk is among the officials in the Qatari capital, a US official and another person familiar told CNN. Meanwhile Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is expected to travel to Washington this week and will meet with Biden administration and Trump transition officials, according to an Israeli source.

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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the opportunity to do 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 the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

CNN has reached out to Hamas and the hostage 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 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 one child was pulled 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.

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.

This is a developing story and will be updated.