Overview

• Hamas is pressing for the release of marquee prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat, Hassan Salama, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas al-Sayed, as a condition for freeing Israeli hostages.
• Associated Press reports that negotiators received Hamas’ list this week as pressure grows to recover the remaining 48 hostages from Oct. 7, with roughly 20 believed to be alive.
• A Qatari newspaper reported Israel agreed to free several of the top convicts, but Israeli media and sources disputed that claim and reported that figures such as Marwan Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed will not be released.
• Israel frames the requested prisoners as architects of deadly attacks and points to the precedent of Yahya Sinwar’s 2011 release and later leadership role as a core security concern.
• Reports also describe late-stage conditions from Hamas that could derail a deal, including freeing captured Nukhba operatives, returning leaders’ bodies, guarantees of a full Israeli withdrawal, staged hostage releases and refusal to disarm.