Hamas starts hostage headcount ahead of possible swap for Palestinians jailed in Israel

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Hamas operatives in Gaza have started compiling a list of the estimated 100 hostages held by the group, establishing their names, whereabouts, state of health and determining the number of those who have died while in captivity, sources told The National on Sunday.

They said it was a prelude to a limited swap of hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons under Egyptian proposals for a renewable truce of up to 30 days, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.

It also marks a change of heart by the group, which had in the past adamantly refused to entertain Israeli requests for information on the hostages, whom the Israeli military believes include about 40 who died in captivity.

News of the Hamas endeavour coincides with the expected resumption later on Sunday of talks on a Gaza deal, bringing together mediators from the US and its ally Egypt along with negotiators from the militant group and Israel. The talks in Doha will end a three-month hiatus in high-level efforts to broker a deal.

On Sunday, Qatar called for pressure to be applied on all sides to reach a ceasefire, arguing the Israeli "bloodshed" against Palestinians must end now and without reservation.

"Pressure on both sides is necessary in any conflict," said Majed Al Ansari, an adviser to the Prime Minister and spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "You don't mediate between friends, you mediate between adversaries. You mediate between those who are aiming to basically either diminish each other or abolish each other. And this is what we are seeing right now in this country."

The sources said Israel planned to renew its offer for a safe passage of Hamas leaders out of Gaza and a guarantee it would not hunt them down in exile. Hamas had previously rejected the offer but the sources said some Hamas leaders in Gaza were not opposed, a position they said was likely to open a rift within the group.

In a move likely to further complicate the Doha negotiations, Fatah, the dominant faction in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, has rejected the mandate of a proposed committee of Palestinian technocrats and experts to run postwar Gaza, including the vital Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza that has been closed since May.

“The committee will enshrine divisions,” Jibril Rajoub, head of Fatah's powerful central committee, said on Saturday. He also suggested the committee would serve the “agendas” of parties he did not name.

Egypt closed the crossing to protest against Israel's capture of it and the strip of land that runs the length of its border with Gaza on the Palestinian side. It rejects any Israeli presence on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing and has advocated the creation of a Palestinian agency to run it.

The Rafah crossing, Gaza's only gate to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel, was the main passageway for humanitarian assistance into the enclave after the war began in October last year and until May.

Qatar's Prime Minister struck an upbeat note on the prospects for a Gaza deal, saying momentum had returned to the talks following Donald Trump's election last month.

“We have sensed, after the election, that the momentum is coming back,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim, who is also his nation's Foreign Minister, told the Doha Forum for political dialogue on Saturday.

He said there had been “a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office".

He added: "We hope to get things done as soon as possible. We hope that the willingness of the parties to engage in good faith continues.”

A similarly positive note came from a source close to the Hamas delegation who told AFP that Turkey, as well as Egypt and Qatar, had been “making commendable efforts to stop the war”. In a statement later on Saturday, the group said Turkish spy chief Ibrahim Kalin had met Hamas leaders in Doha to discuss the war in Gaza.

Mr Trump last week warned on social media of unspecified massive repercussions if the hostages held by Hamas were not released by the time he takes office on January 20. He has also vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with outgoing President Joe Biden's occasional criticism of the close US ally.

The war in Gaza was sparked by an attack in October last year by Hamas and its allies on southern Israel, where they killed 1,200 and took another 250 hostage. The attack drew a devastating Israeli response that has to date killed about 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number, according to Gaza government figures.

The relentless Israeli campaign has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, razed built-up areas and created a humanitarian crisis.