A senior Hamas official said the militant Palestinian group is ready to release all civilian hostages, foreign and Israeli, if Israel will stop its barrage of airstrikes on Gaza as Israel prepares for a land offensive.
The hostages could be released within the hour if Israel meets the terms, the official told NBC, but added that there is currently no safe place to release the hostages.
The official told NBC News that Hamas would also be willing to release Israeli soldiers who are being held, but in exchange, Israel must release all jailed Palestinians.
The official also claimed that Israel and the United States are aware of the terms for the release of the civilian hostages because Hamas has revealed them while speaking with leaders of Arab countries.
However, Ghazi Hamad, another spokesman for Hamas, said the militants are providing shelter and protection for the hostages, but there are no plans to release them, NPR reported.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus on Tuesday said the hostages include some military personnel, children, and a Holocaust survivor.
The Hamas official said the priority is to stop "aggression and death" in Gaza, and that he is more concerned with the Palestinian citizens' fate than he is with the hostages.
"But it is a war," he said. "Our priority now is to stop aggression and death on Gaza."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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