Israel calls Hamas demands for hostage release 'ludicrous'

Israel has called a Hamas proposal for releasing hostages "ludicrous" as the militant Palestinian group wants Israel to release those responsible for murders and rapes on October 7 in exchange for the people it kidnapped.

"Hamas' ludicrous demand that the [Israel Defense Forces] fully withdraw from Gaza and that we release the Hamas ... rapists and murderers who committed the atrocities of October 7 in exchange for the release of our hostages," Avi Hyman, an Israeli government spokesman, said on Monday.

"And as if that's not enough, we were told that we would also have to establish a Palestinian state," Hyman said.

He said this would simply be "a capitulation to Hamas" disguised as a "peace agreement." It is essential for Israel to achieve "a full victory in this war," he said, adding that Israel cannot win the war "until Hamas is fully destroyed."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that "there is no genuine proposal" from Hamas in Gaza to release more hostages, but Israel has an initiative, which he refused to elaborate on.

His comments came as hostage relatives stormed a Knesset meeting in Jerusalem that had to be cancelled because of the protest. Relatives have been pushing hard for a new hostage deal.

Hyman said the families want a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages' release, but the Israeli government's position is that "there can be no path towards victory until Hamas is fully destroyed."

Netanyahu told the hostage familes that "contrary to what is said – there is no genuine proposal by Hamas, this is not true."

"On the other hand, there is our initiative, which I will not detail," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu had said on Sunday that he rejected Hamas' conditions for the release of the hostages, which he said included not only a demand to an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, but also the release of Palestinian prisoners and the continuation of Hamas' governing power in Gaza.

According to Israeli information, more than 130 hostages who were abducted by militants from Hamas and other groups on October 7 are still being held in the Gaza Strip. They have been there for 108 days.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar are putting pressure on Israel and Hamas to enter into negotiations that should lead to the release of hostages and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, according to media reports.

The negotiations should continue in Cairo in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal reported.

US President Joe Biden's Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk, will meet Abbas Kamel, the head of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo, according to a New York Times report from Sunday evening, citing US officials.

McGurk, who was due to leave on Sunday, would later travel on to Doha to meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdel-Rahman Al Thani.

In November, 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners during a week-long ceasefire as part of a deal.

Meanwhile on the ground, at least 190 Palestinians have been killed within 24 hours in ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. Another 340 were injured, it said in a statement on Monday.

This brings the number of people killed in the coastal strip since the start of the war three and a half months ago to 25,295. Around 63,000 others have been injured.

The figures could not initially be independently verified.

The spokesman for the health authority also announced on Monday that 40 dead had been buried in a mass grave in the Nasser Hospital area in the city of Khan Younis due to the circumstances.

Israeli media also reported fierce fighting in the area of Khan Younis. Israel suspects the leadership of Hamas are hiding in the underground tunnel network there. It is also likely that hostages are being held there.

Palestinian paramedics reported that they were unable to reach the area to treat the injured due to the massive Israeli attacks. The Palestinian Red Crescent accused the Israeli army of blockading one of the organization's rescue stations in the southern Gaza Strip and attacking anyone who moved there.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of misusing medical facilities and ambulances for military purposes. Hamas rejects this.

The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on October 7, in which some 1,200 people in Israel were killed.

According to military figures, 196 servicemen and women have been killed since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza at the end of October and more than 1,200 others have been injured.

A total of 532 servicemen and women, including those killed on October 7, have been killed since the start of the war, the Israeli military said.