Hamas has contacted the families of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip by phone. The call was reportedly made to inform them that the Israeli government allegedly refused to exchange captives. The Palestinian group did this in order to "expose" Israel's hostages' release pledge. Hamas said it was holding over 200–250 hostages; 150 of them were believed to be Israelis. This comes after a senior member of Hamas, Ghazi Hamad, said the group was ready for a "complete compromise" deal on the issue of swapping hostages with Israel.
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