TEL AVIV, November 20. /TASS/. Israel and the radical Palestinian Hamas movement have made progress in negotiations on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

According to the news outlet, Qatari mediators in contact with Hamas said that the radicals are ready to release a group of 50 women and children in the first stage in exchange for a four-or five-day pause in hostilities, the release of some 150 Palestinian children and women from Israeli prisons, and the delivery of fuel to Gaza. At the same time, Hamas officials said that they did not know the whereabouts of all the children and their mothers abducted from Israeli territory, whom the radicals would have to collect in the first days of the ceasefire, provided that Israel refrains from airstrikes. In addition, the movement has expressed its readiness to increase the number of hostages released if it manages to locate them in the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire.

According to Israeli authorities, Hamas is holding a total of 240 to 250 hostages. Most are Israeli citizens, including some people with dual citizenship who also hold passports of Germany, the US and other countries. About 35 are foreigners who are not Israeli citizens, most of them are Thai nationals who worked in the country.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.