No more hostage releases until Israel agrees to end Gaza war: Hamas

GAZA, Dec21 (BBC/AP): Hamas says that Palestinian groups have rejected the prospect of further hostage releases until Israel agrees to end the war in Gaza. The statement was released as talks in Cairo continue over reaching a new truce in the war.
But Israel has repeatedly rejected a permanent ceasefire, with its national security minister saying ending the war before Hamas is defeated would constitute a "failure".
More than 240 Israeli hostages were captured during Hamas's 7 October attacks, with more than 100 of them released in a previous truce enforced in November.
Gaza truce talks
gain momentum
As Netanyahu vowed to continue the war, there were new signs of progress in ceasefire talks. Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, traveled to Cairo for talks on the war, part of a flurry of diplomacy. In recent days, top Israeli, American and Qatari officials have also held cease-fire talks.
"These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere," the White House's national security spokesman, John Kirby, said aboard Air Force One while traveling with President Joe Biden to Wisconsin.
Biden, however, indicated a deal was still a ways off. "There's no expectation at this point, but we are pushing," he said. Asked about the rising death toll in Gaza, Biden said: It's tragic."
Hamas says no more hostages will be released until the war ends. It is insisting on the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-level militants convicted in deadly attacks, for remaining captives.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the efforts right now are focused on how to "stop this aggression, especially that our enemy now knows that it cannot achieve any of its goals."
Israel has rejected Hamas' demands for a mass prisoner release so far. But it has a history of lopsided exchanges for captive Israelis, and the government is under heavy public pressure to bring the hostages home safely.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the U.S., helped mediate a weeklong cease-fire in November in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for Israel's release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas and other militants are still holding an estimated 129 captives, though roughly 20 are believed to have died in captivity.
U.N. Security Council members are negotiating an Arab-sponsored resolution to halt the fighting in some way to allow for an increase in desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
US joins move to avoid vetoing
UN resolution on critical aid
The United States, key allies and Arab nations engaged in high-level diplomacy in hopes of avoiding another U.S. veto of a new U.N. resolution on desperately needed aid to Gaza ahead of a long-delayed vote now scheduled for Thursday morning.
The U.S. has been struggling to change the text's references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas war. Another sticking point is the inspection of aid trucks into Gaza to ensure they are only carrying humanitarian goods. The current draft proposes a U.N. role, an idea Israel is likely to oppose.
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on his way back from Milwaukee, Wisconsin late Wednesday afternoon that "we're negotiating right now at the U.N. the contours of a resolution that we may be able to agree to."
Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, which sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said earlier that high-level discussions are underway to try to reach agreement on a text that can be adopted.
"Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground," she told reporters after the 15 council members held closed consultations early Wednesday afternoon and agreed to the delay. "We believe today, giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy, could yield positive results."