Israel x Hamas: factors that make it difficult to release hostages

So far, only a few hostages have been released since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The United States, Israel and Hamas – with important mediation from Qatar – have been involved in negotiations for weeks to release the Gaza hostages.

The parties are working toward a deal that would involve sustaining a days-long pause in fighting in exchange for the release of a large group of hostages, a senior U.S. official familiar with the negotiations told CNN on Friday.

But several factors are hampering negotiation efforts: One of the complications in the ongoing talks has been verifying the list of names of Palestinian hostages and prisoners that Hamas and Israel would release respectively as part of the deal, two officials told CNN.

Israel wants to ensure that none of the released prisoners are linked to Hamas and the country has been scrutinizing proposed names as part of the process.

Another factor that reduced the pace of negotiations was the lack of information about the hostages held by Hamas.

Because other groups in Gaza, such as Islamic Jihad, are believed to have also captured hostages, it was unclear to negotiators who exactly Hamas could release as part of a deal.

Throughout the process, daily fighting and logistical problems delayed negotiations, including communications outages in Gaza that prevented Hamas leaders in the strip from speaking to their political leaders in Qatar.

Complicated indirect diplomacy, involving Qatari mediators, means it can take hours – and even days – for messages to be exchanged between all parties.

The indirect style of negotiation is complicated, a US official acknowledged, but necessary.