Hamas leader: Civilian hostages will be released if Israel stops bombardment

Khaled Meshaal, a senior Hamas leader, said that civilian hostages held in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October will be released, if Israel “stops the aggression.”

In an interview with Sky News, he said: “let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we'll send them to their homes.”

"We want to stop the random bombardments, the total destruction, the genocide so that the al Qassam soldiers can take them from their places and hand them to the Red Cross or whoever,” he added, saying that “we need the right conditions to allow them to be released."

According to Meshaal, 22 hostages have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.