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.

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.

Hamas stood by its demand on Tuesday that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be "hell to pay" unless they go free by his Jan.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East said negotiators were on the verge of a deal to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas in its war against Israel.

President-elect Donald Trump warned that if hostages still being held in Gaza are not released by the time he is inaugurated on January 20, “all hell will break out in the Middle East.”

President-elect Donald Trump is issuing an ultimatum for Hamas, saying that if the hostages aren't released before his inauguration in two weeks, "all hell will break out." "If they're not back by the time I get into office,

President-elect Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will join negotiations over a Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal on Wednesday in Doha. Why it matters: Witkoff's trip is part of a last-minute effort by the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to reach a deal to release hostages held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza before Trump's inauguration on Jan.