A senior Israeli official involved in indirect negotiations for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip told AFP yesterday that his government knew “with certainty” that dozens of them were still alive.

Of the 251 people abducted during the raid launched by Hamas’ military wing in southern Israel on October 7, 116 are believed to be still in the Gaza Strip, but 41 are believed to be dead, according to Israeli figures. army.

After more than eight months of war, the US is pushing for an agreement based on a proposal presented in late May by US President Joe Biden, which would include, in its first phase, a six-week ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from densely populated areas of the Palestinian enclave and the release of some hostages, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israel.

With indirect negotiations deadlocked, the Israeli negotiator reiterated his government’s refusal to accept Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire.

“We cannot at this stage — before an agreement is signed — commit to ending the war,” explained the AFP source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Because during the first phase, there is a clause based on which we will continue negotiations for the second phase. The second phase is the release of the men and soldiers” held hostage, he continued.

He clarified that Israel’s negotiating team has approved the plan presented by US President Biden — but not yet the Israeli government.

“We hope and expect that Hamas will say yes,” he said, although the Palestinian Islamist movement continues to call a permanent ceasefire a necessary condition for any deal to release the hostages.

“In the event that we do not reach an agreement with Hamas, Chahal (the Israeli army) will continue” the ground operations in the Gaza Strip, he clarified: “in a different, but intensive way.”

The war, now in its 256th day, erupted on October 7 when Hamas’ military wing launched an unprecedented raid on southern Israeli territory centered on the Gaza Strip, killing 1,194 people. , mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli statements.

In retaliation, the Israeli armed forces are conducting large-scale, devastating operations that have so far killed at least 37,347 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.