A forum representing the vast majority of the remaining 100 hostages in Gaza on Monday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to pursue a comprehensive deal that would see all of their loved ones released, blasting the framework Jerusalem is currently pursuing that would only free roughly one-third of the captives during a temporary ceasefire.

The Hostages Forum held a Tel Aviv press conference featuring four relatives of those being held in Gaza following reports that Hamas had approved a list of 34 hostages that it is prepared to release.

Earlier Monday, a Saudi news outlet published what it said were the names of the hostages on the list, which Netanyahu’s office subsequently maintained was just a recycled list from a previous round of negotiation. A senior Hamas official had told AFP on Sunday that Hamas needed a “week of calm” to locate all of the hostages and ascertain their condition.

A Netanyahu spokesperson rejected the request on Monday, insisting that the terror group is fully up to date on the hostages.

The Hamas official stood by the group’s need for time “to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead,” while adding that “Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead.”

Israel is seeking to maximize the number of living hostages who will be released as part of the deal, while Hamas is looking to hold onto as many hostages as possible so long as Israel plans to resume fighting once the temporary ceasefire is over. Israeli intelligence assesses that as many as half of the hostages are still alive.

The deal being discussed is expected to last six to seven weeks and see the release of the remaining female, elderly and wounded hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners and a partial IDF withdrawal from Gaza.

Netanyahu’s office has preferred the temporary ceasefire framework, with the premier arguing that ending the war permanently in exchange for all of the hostages would allow Hamas to regain control of the Strip. Repeated polls have indicated that the majority of the Israeli public rejects Netanyahu’s approach.

Much of Israel’s security establishment has maintained that Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war contains no exit strategy since he has refused to advance a viable alternative to Hamas’s rule, thereby allowing the terror group to repeatedly return to areas briefly cleared by the IDF. The security establishment and the international community have pushed for allowing the Palestinian Authority, which enjoys limited governing powers over parts of the West Bank, to gain a foothold in Gaza in order to replace Hamas.

Netanyahu has rejected the idea out of hand, likening the PA — which backs a two-state........

© The Times of Israel