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The armed wing of Hamas has said that almost 50 of the hostages it took from Israel have been killed during the past three weeks of Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

There is no independent verification of the claim, which comes as the families of the hostages continue to put pressure on the Israeli government to do all it can to free them.

Israel says more than 200 people were abducted by Hamas gunmen during the October 7th attacks on Israel that triggered the war.

So far, Hamas has released four people 鈥� an American mother and daughter and two elderly Israeli women.

Gershon Baskin is the Middle East director of the NGO, International Communities Organization. He was one of the people who worked to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity in 2011 in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. He told Newsday: "I鈥檓 trying to put together the pieces that could be a ceasefire and the release of the women, the children, the aged, wounded and the sick as soon as possible.鈥�

He believes the Israeli government would agree to a ceasefire in exchange for the release of those held 鈥渁s long as it doesn鈥檛 include other things. Hamas keeps changing what they鈥檙e demanding鈥�As long as the massive ground invasion hasn鈥檛 begun there鈥檚 still hope and the fact that Israel is waiting means that they鈥檙e exhausting every possibility to find a solution to at least get the civilian hostages out of Gaza.鈥�

(Picture: Shows relatives of hostages that were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip at a demonstration calling for the Israeli government to bring them back on October 26, 2023, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Credit: Amir Levy/Getty Images.)

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