Hamas has named British hostage Emily Damari on a list of 34 captives it claims are set for release, but the terror group has refused to confirm if she is still alive after 15 months in captivity.
The 28-year-old was among those Hamas said it was prepared to free in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza.
However, Israeli officials have accused Hamas of “psychological terror” for releasing names without providing any confirmation of the hostages’ conditions. The list includes 10 women, 11 men over 50, and 11 people designated as sick.
Nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.
The assault was launched after Hamas fighters stormed Israeli territory in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Emily Damari is the sole British hostage
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Damari was kidnapped on October 7 from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a village near the Gaza border where she was born and raised.
A Hamas official said the group needed “a week of calm” to contact captors and determine which hostages were still alive.
A source close to Damari’s family said they did not view Hamas’s lists “as official or authoritative”, adding: “It’s not clear if Emily is slated for release.”
The terror group has demanded Israel agree to a full withdrawal from Gaza and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of any deal.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed the list as “spin,” claiming it was actually names Israel had requested to be freed last July – to which they received no response.
LATEST FROM THE WAR IN GAZA
Mandy Damari, mother of sole British hostage in Gaza, Emily Damari
PA
A street outside an apartment building hit by Israeli bombardment in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees
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An official from the Prime Minister’s office called it an attempt to put pressure on Israel and urged media to ignore the “propaganda and psychological terror.”
“They haven’t said who is alive and who is not; they haven’t sent any list,” the official said. “So, as far as we stand, there isn’t any progress.”
The document has caused distress to families of hostages whose names do not appear on it.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wants to see a ceasefire deal concluded before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken said at a press conference in South Korea.
Smoke rising above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip during an Israeli army bombardment
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Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been working for months to broker an agreement.
The latest round of negotiations has stalled over Hamas’s demand for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel insists it will not end operations until all hostages are freed.
Around 100 hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza, with Israeli officials saying at least a third are thought to have died in captivity.
A total of 251 people were abducted during the October 7 attacks, with fewer than 50 believed to still be alive.
Five hostages named on Israel’s original July list have since been executed by Hamas, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarsuri, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat and Avraham Munder.
One captive from that list, Kaid Farhan al-Qadi, was rescued by the IDF during military operations in Gaza.