April 16, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Hamas has slashed the number of hostages it is willing to release during the first phase of a proposed ceasefire deal by more than half, an Israeli source close to the negotiations said.

In its latest counterproposal, Hamas offered to release fewer than 20 hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire, more than halving the number of 40 hostages that has been the basis of negotiations for months — a significant step backward in the talks.

A senior Biden administration official confirmed that Hamas is focused on those 20 for the first phase of a potential deal. The official also confirmed Hamas is telling mediators that it only has around 20 remaining hostages who are women or sick, wounded and elderly men.

Hamas also called for the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for fewer hostages, the source said, as well as a higher number of prisoners serving life sentences.

The Israeli source said the latest Hamas counterproposal signals that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, does not want a deal, seeking to exploit fissures between the US and Israel over Israeli military operations in Gaza and domestic pressure on the Israeli government.

Hamas spokesperson Basem Naim said the group had proposed “releasing (three) captured Israelis each week,” but said “no one is talking about final numbers.”

Beyond the ratio of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas is continuing to demand assurances about a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and unrestricted access for Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

China said it noted Iran’s statement that the actions against Israel were an “exercise of the right of self-defense” during a phone call between the foreign ministers of the two nations on Monday, and did not condemn the weekend strikes.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that China condemned the attack on a consulate building in the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, according to a statement issued by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Chinese foreign minister added the incident “seriously violates international law and is unacceptable.”

Separately, China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met with Irit Ben-Abba Vitale, Israel’s Ambassador to China, on Monday, in which the latter expressed Israel's position and concerns on the conflict in Gaza.

Zhai said China was “deeply concerned about the current escalation of regional tensions, and conflicts and bloodshed serve the interests of no one.”

Fifteen more bodies were recovered on Monday from around Al-Shifa Hospital following the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the area two weeks ago, Gaza residents and medical crews told CNN.

Health workers and residents in northern Gaza have been searching and digging for what they believe are mass graves and looking for their loved ones, after they said Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and left their bodies to decompose during their two-week siege of the complex.

Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from areas around the hospital complex since the siege ended on April 1, a Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson told CNN last week.

Video filmed by CNN Monday shows medical workers, some wearing UN-marked vests, walking around the site over mounds of sand, digging up bodies. White body bags can be seen lying on the side of the excavation site, some marked with text reading “unidentified body” and some with names of people on them.

CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on these allegations but has not received a response.

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White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated Monday morning that President Joe Biden is focused on preventing Iran’s attack against Israel from spiraling into a wider regional conflict. 

Pressed on whether it’s the White House position that Israel should not retaliate, Kirby said that’s ultimately up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government but that the US wants to see tensions de-escalate. 

“We respect their sovereign decision-making process. What we want to see is de-escalation of the tensions. We don't want to see a wider war," Kirby said.

Israel was set to take its first steps toward a ground offensive in Rafah this week, but has delayed those plans as it mulls a response to Iran’s attack, two Israeli sources tell CNN.

The Israeli Air Force had planned on dropping leaflets on parts of the city on Monday, the sources said.

One Israeli official said Israel remains determined to carry out a ground offensive in the city but that the timing of civilian evacuations and the coming ground offensive remains unclear at the moment. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed the importance of invading Rafah to dismantle Hamas’s remaining battalions despite significant pressure from the United States to call off an all-out ground offensive.

The future of the war in Gaza and the ground offensive in Rafah in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering, are also factoring into the war cabinet’s debate about a potential response to Iran’s attack.

A military response that risks escalating the conflict with Iran further would pull the military’s attention and resources away from Gaza, where Israel’s government has vowed to hand Hamas a total defeat.

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The Israeli war cabinet has reviewed military plans for a potential response against Iran during a nearly three-hour meeting on Monday, an official said.

The war cabinet remains determined to act, but it is not clear at this point if a decision has been made.

There is a sense that Israel must act quickly, the official said.  

The war cabinet also reviewed diplomatic options to further isolate Iran, which could be carried out in addition to a military response.

It's imperative the international community "stand united in resisting this Iranian aggression, which threatens world peace," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Monday statement from his office on X.

Netanyahu added:

Netanyahu's comments follow an Iranian strike against Israel over the weekend in which more than 300 missiles and drones were launched.

Tehran said the attack was in retaliation for a deadly Israeli attack against a consulate building in the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus.