Israel says Hamas has not provided any information about the status of those 34 hostages, dampening any notion that the endorsement is a step toward a deal to stop the war.

A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. It is unclear how many hostages remain alive.

The deal would secure release of a third of the approximately 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, including two dual U.S.-Israeli nationals. In return, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has named 34 hostages, some of them believed to have died in captivity, who it says it would return to Israel in the first phase of an evolving if still elusive ceasefire in Gaza.

Relatives of hostages are pressuring Israel's government to reach a ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas has reportedly agreed on a list of 34 names of hostages still held in Gaza-- the people who would be freed should the ceasefire deal with the Israeli government currently under discussion in Qatar go ahead.

The Israeli army says it has recovered another body of a hostage in the Gaza Strip. An Arab Israeli, aged 53, has been brought out, according to a military spokesman. Finds connected to his son, who had also been kidnapped,

Gaza Israel and Hamas are inching closer to a deal to pause their 15-month war in Gaza and enact a hostages-for-prisoners swap, sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The National on Wednesday.