Pictures of hostages
Pictures of hostagesIsrael National News

Israel made it clear to Egypt and Qatar that it will not hold another round of talks on a hostage release deal until Hamas presents a list of the hostages who are alive and provides a serious response to the number of prisoners that the mediators proposed to be released as part of the deal, two Israeli senior officials told Axios on Friday.

US President Joe Biden, who said last month he would do everything possible to get a new deal, spoke separately to the Qatari and Egyptian leaders on Thursday and discussed the "urgency of bringing negotiations to a close as soon as possible and expanding the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza" the White House said.

Egypt and Qatar promised Israel that if it sent a delegation to Doha this week for talks on the humanitarian aspects of the proposed deal, they would bring answers from Hamas on which hostages are still alive and put pressure on the group to be flexible on the number of Palestinians prisoners it demands to be released as part of any agreement.

However, senior Israeli officials said that after three days of talks in Qatar, the Israeli delegation returned to Israel on Thursday without answers.

"The mediators promised that Hamas would give numbers and that didn't happen," said an Israeli official quoted by Axios.

Qatari and Egyptian officials spoke to Israeli officials in the last 24 hours and proposed holding another round of talks in Cairo next week, the report said. A senior Israeli official said that Israel refused the offer and clarified that until it receives answers from Hamas, it will be impossible to move forward in the negotiations.

"There is no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which of the hostages are alive and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the 'ratio' that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage," an Israeli official told Axios.

Channel 13 News reported this week that a document from the hostage and ceasefire talks in Paris revealed that the US proposal would see Israel release 404 terrorists and security prisoners and pause its military operations in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing 40 of the 134 hostages the terrorist organization still holds captive in Gaza.

According to the report, 15 of the freed hostages would be adults over the age of 50, 13 ill hostages, and seven women. In addition, five female IDF soldiers will be released.

About 10 security prisoners and terrorists would be released for every hostage released by Hamas.

Hamas is reportedly demanding that terrorists serving lengthy prison sentences for serious crimes be released due to the release of any IDF soldiers. In addition, the terrorist organization is demanding the release of 47 terrorists who were released as part of the 2011 Shalit deal and subsequently rearrested.

Biden told reporters in New York on Monday that he hopes a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would allow for hostages to be released can take effect by early next week. On Thursday, he backtracked from those comments and said it would “take a little bit longer”.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)