Israel demands release of 33 hostages still alive in Gaza

Israel is demanding the release of 33 living hostages from Hamas during the Gaza talks in Doha in an initial phase, media reports on Thursday cited Israeli officials.

Israeli representatives involved in the negotiations gave a list of names as a condition for an agreement, according to Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth.

Israel does not want to find itself in a situation in which Hamas primarily hands over corpses, the officials said, according to the report.

The 33 hostages were reportedly humanitarian cases, including women, children, elderly and sick people, as well as women soldiers.

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According to Israeli calculations, Hamas still holds 115 hostages, of whom Israel has declared 41 dead.

Other hostages whose fate is unknown were presumed not to be alive.

Hamas told negotiators that among the 33 hostages who could be released in an initial step, but there were also dead individuals, according to a U.S. media report three months ago.