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Hamas lists 34 hostages it may free under ceasefire
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 of those named remain alive. All but two were captured during Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
The ages of those on the list range from just one year old to 86. It also includes children who Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike.
A number of hostages who Hamas says are sick are also on the list.
The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages.
“The list of hostages published in the media was not passed on to Israel by Hamas, but was originally passed from Israel to intermediaries as early as July 2024,” it said. “To date, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the abductees on the list.”
British Israeli Emily Damari, who was shot and taken from kibbutz Kfar Azar on 7 October, is among the names on the list. The 28-year-old is one of five civilian women named alongside five female surveillance soldiers.
They include 19 year old Liti Albag, who appeared in a video posted by Hamas at the weekend, in which she was seen urging her government to make a deal.
Also on the list are two brothers – Kfir Bibas, a one-year-old approaching his second birthday, and 5-year-old Ariel – who were taken hostage along with their parents. Hamas has previously said the children were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Two Israelis held in Gaza for around a decade are also among the 34 names. They are Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Arab who was seized in 2015, and Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu, who was reportedly suffering from mental health issues and was taken captive after crossing into Gaza a year earlier.
Families of hostages said in a statement that they were “deeply shaken and distressed” by the list.
“The time has come for a comprehensive agreement that will bring back all hostages – we know more than half are still alive and need immediate rehabilitation, while those who were murdered must be returned for proper burial. We have no more time to waste. A hostage ceasefire agreement must be sealed now!”
Hamas’s decision to release the names of hostages will be seen by some as an attempt to increase public pressure on the Israeli government.
Ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but the talks do not appear to have made significant progress yet.
A Hamas official told the Reuters news agency any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war. “However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israel and Hamas have consistently accused each other of obstructing progress towards a ceasefire deal.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Seoul on Monday that he was “confident that a deal will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later”, though he conceded it might happen after Joe Biden leaves office on 20 January.
About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage in the unprecedented attack, which triggered a massive Israeli military campaign in Gaza. A hundred and five of the hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in November 2023. Fifty other hostages have been released, rescued or their bodies recovered.
At least 45,805 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says.
Reports from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its air force had attacked more than 100 “terrorist” sites across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas fighters.
The names on the list of hostages provided by Hamas:
Romi Gonen (24); Emily Damari (28); Arbel Yehoud (29); Doron Steinbrecher (31); Ariel Bibas (5); Kfir Bibas (1); Shiri Silberman Bibas (33); Liri Albag (19); Karina Ariev (20); Agam Berger (20); Daniel Gilboa (20); Naama Levy (20); Ohad Ben-Ami (55); Gad Moshe Moses (80); Keith Shmuel Siegel (65); Offer Kaldaron (53); Eliyahu Sharabi (52); Itzhak Elgaret (69); Shlomo Mansur (86); Ohad Yahalomi (50); Yousef Yousef Alziadna (54); Oded Lifshitz (84); Tsachi Idan (50); Hisham al-Sayed (36); Yarden Bibas (35); Sagi Dekel Chen (36); Iair Horn (46); Omer Wenkert (23); Alexandre Troufanov (28); Eliya Cohen (27); Or Levy (34); Avera Mengistu (38); Tal Shoham (39); Omer Shem Tov (21).

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Shree Charani, Prema Rawat spin Pakistan out for 55 in one-sided contest
Pakistan were bowled out for 55, their lowest total in T20I cricke. A collapse where they lost six wickets for eight runs in 29 balls set them so far back that they couldn’t even bat out 20 overs. Harmanpreet Kaur, who broke new ground by becoming the first player – male or female – to lead her team 150 times in T20Is, had the time of her life celebrating each wicket and eventually scoring the winning runs as well.
Shree Charani shines
Old-fashioned left-arm spin is having a resurgence. India men have found Manav Suthar. India women already had N Shree Charanin. The No. 1-ranked T20I bowler in the world picked up two wickets in her first over on Saturday.
The flight on the ball drew Gull Feroza out of her crease. The drift in had her looking leg side. The dip and the turn resulted in a leading edge and a simple catch to point. The bowler did everything right. The batter did everything wrong. Shawaal Zulfiqar was the only Pakistan batter to put any kind of pressure on India. Charani had her lbw for 14 off 14 and from there it was a procession.
Pakistan’s batting troubles
Playing their 200th T20I, Pakistan went from 27 for 0 to 35 for 6 before the innings was halfway done. They could not find a risk-free way to score runs, absorbing long periods of dot balls and trying to get out of it by playing low-percentage shots, often against the turn, on a Dubai pitch that was offering plenty of it. Only the openers got to double digits and only Zulfiqar was able to score a run a ball.
Rawat’s support act
Prema Rawat finished with figures of 4-0-9-3. Nineteen of her 24 balls were dots. All of that is remarkable considering she is a legspinner, whose release points tend to be just shy of the perpendicular. Like Shane Warne. From there, they turn their wrist over and it can either be awesome or awful. Rawat’s release point is perpendicular, maybe even beyond it, like Rashid Khan’s. And she doesn’t turn her wrist. For the most part, she just flicks the ball out the front of her hand. This gives her better control at the cost of big turn and in T20Is, that trade-off is well worth it. Nobody could hit Rawat off her line and length and when Sadaf Shamas tried, she got bowled off her pads.
A simple enough chase
Scores:
India Women 57 for 3 in 8.4 overs (Shafali Verma 12, Harmanpreet Kaur 18*, Deepti Sharma 12*; Fatima Sana 3-17) beat Pakistan Women in 18.1 overs 55 (Muneesha Ali 13, Shawal Zulfiqar 14, Shafali Verma 1-10, Shree Charani 3-07, Deepti Sharma 2-05, Prema Rawat 3-09) by seven wickets
(Cricinfo)
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Sun directly overhead Bentota, Thiniyawala, Iththakanda, Udawalawe, and Kataragama about 12.08 noon t9day (06)
The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.
The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is
overhead today (06) are Bentota, Thiniyawala, Iththakanda, Udawalawe, and Kataragama about 12.08 noon
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Rumesh Tharanga created history in emphatic fashion, winning the men’s javelin at the Diamond League Final in Brussels to become the country’s first Diamond League champion.
The recently crowned Commonwealth champion sealed the prestigious Diamond Trophy with a superb third-round throw of 89.04 metres, producing yet another major performance on the biggest stage.
Tharanga became the first Sri Lakan to win a top position at a global competition conducted under the auspice of World Athletics.
The victory also extended Tharanga’s extraordinary run of form, giving him his 12th victory in his last 13 competitions. His only defeat during that sequence came earlier in the season, underlining the consistency that has made him one of the outstanding performers in world javelin this year.
Tharanga’s winning effort was enough to keep a determined international field at bay, with Poland’s Dawid Wegner producing a lifetime best of 87.47m to take the silver medal. Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott completed the podium in third place.
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