GAZA: The Zionist entity claimed Monday that Hamas had yet to clarify whether 34 captives it said it was ready to free were dead or alive, after the group asserted it needed time to ascertain their fate. The offer from Hamas came as the Zionist entity continued to pound the Gaza Strip, where rescuers said 13 people were killed Monday.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza war broke out, Zionist officials said three Zionists were killed in an attack by gunmen. Two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, were killed by Zionist forces in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. Palestinian media said Zionist forces opened fire on the home of a 37-year-old man in a town south of Jenin. The health ministry said the 17-year-old was killed in a Zionist raid in Askar camp in Nablus.

Also on Monday, the UN’s World Food Program accused the Zionist entity of firing on one of its aid convoys in the war-torn Gaza Strip, saying at least 16 bullets hit the clearly marked vehicles but no staff were injured. Condemning the “horrifying” and “unacceptable” incident, the WFP called again for “all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, and allow safe passage for humanitarian aid”.

The “clearly marked WFP convoy was shot at by (Zionist) forces near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, putting the lives of our staff at tremendous risk and leaving the vehicles immobilized,” the agency said in

a statement. “The convoy, consisting of three vehicles carrying eight staff members, came under hostile fire despite having received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities. At least 16 bullets struck the vehicles,” it added. “Thankfully, no staff members were injured in this terrifying encounter.”

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been working for months to strike a deal to end the fighting in Gaza, but both warring sides have accused the other of derailing the negotiations. In recent days, mediators have resumed indirect talks, and a senior Hamas official said late Sunday that the group was prepared to release an initial batch of captives but would need “a week of calm” to determine whether they were still alive.

Zionist government spokesman David Mencer, however, rejected that claim on Monday. “They know precisely who is alive and who is dead. They know precisely where the hostages are,” Mencer told journalists in an online briefing. “Gaza is a very small place. Hamas know exactly where they are.” In an earlier statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “(the Zionist entity) has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages”, adding those slated for inclusion were part of a list “originally given by (the Zionist entity) to the mediators” last year.

The Hamas official had also said the group came from a list presented by the Zionist entity, and would include all the women, children, elderly and sick captives still held in Gaza. “Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead,” the official told AFP, but the group needed time “to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead”.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan 20. “If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Blinken said on a visit to Seoul.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January 20, has vowed even stronger support for the Zionist entity and has warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free the hostages. Some Zionist news websites reported that the chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad was joining the country’s negotiators in Doha on Monday.

Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory. In the West Bank, gunmen killed three Zionist settlers on Monday when they opened fire on a bus and other vehicles near the village of Al-Funduq. The Zionist military offensive has killed 45,854 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians. – Agencies