The leader of a Palestinian political party has said terrorist group Hamas is ready to free civilian hostages if Israel accepts an immediate ceasefire, claiming the militants have agreed not to carry out executions.

“They are ready for immediate exchange so that all Israeli civilians will come home,” said Mustafa Barghouti, who leads the democratic movement Palestinian National Initiative.

Dr Barghouti told ABC’s 7.30 that Israeli civilians abducted by Hamas militants could be freed in a prisoner swap.

He claims Hamas has made an offer.

“Hamas is ready to release all the civilians, all the women in exchange for releasing 40 Palestinian women who are in Israeli prisons. I think it will be time to release the 5,300 Palestinians who are in Israeli prisons, including some who have been there for 44 years.”

Hamas has taken at least 100 Israeli hostages into Gaza, including women, young children and elderly Israelis, following the deadliest incursion into Israeli territory by the militants in 50 years.

The terrorist group has killed more than 900 Israelis in simultaneous, brutal attacks, targeting entire families in southern Israeli towns and gunning down at least 260 partygoers at the Supernova music festival.

As Israel responded to the violence with a barrage of air strikes, the militant group initially said it was prepared to execute hostages for every unannounced air strike hitting residential areas in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to 7.30, Dr Barghouti condemned the threat.

“I think we’ve done whatever we could, so that this would never happen. And I think I can promise you that this will not happen,” he said.

“We’ve expressed our views that no hostage ever should be killed. This is unacceptable, and it should never happen.”

Pressed on whether his organisation had held meetings with Hamas, Dr Barghouti refused to elaborate saying that the message “had been delivered”.

“Nobody will be executed,” he told 7.30.

Several children are among the civilians abducted.

Dr Barghouti condemned the abductions.

“I totally do not accept, and I refuse taking any child hostage.”

But he pointed to the prolonged conflict as the root cause of violence.

“The main cause of everything horrible that is happening to Palestinians and Israelis, is the continuation of illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.”

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Nowhere to go

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to turn Hamas’s hideouts “into rubble”, warning civilians in Gaza on Monday to “leave now”.

The long-standing blockade over the Gaza Strip means civilians can normally only leave Gaza under strict conditions.

After war erupted at the weekend, the only two available border crossings – the Erez checkpoint in the north and the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt — have been impacted, with passage severely restricted or closed due to hostilities.

Dr Barghouti says civilians in Gaza are trapped.

“Richard Hecht, the Israeli (army) spokesperson says that Palestinians should leave to Egypt. So if Egypt borders are closed, where should the people go? It’s telling them we will either kill you with our air strikes or you have to go to the sea or go to Egypt,” he said.

“We feel crippled because we cannot send medications. We cannot send food, we cannot send milk to children. We cannot send water or electricity.”

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