Hamas says it will give the body of four hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest prisoners by the Palestinian Armed group.
The negotiator of the Khalil Al -Hayya group said that the bodies to be released would include those of the Bibas – Shiri family and its young children KFIR and Ariel, who were nine months and four years old, when Hamas kidnapped them during the attack of October 7, 2023.
Their father Yarden was Exit by Hamas Earlier this month.
Al -Hayya said Hamas would also release six Living hostages on Saturday – double the number initially planned to be published.
In exchange, Israel will release all women and people under the age of 19 arrested since last October and allow cleaning equipment for rubble to Gaza through the border with Egypt.
In a statement, Al-Hayya said that the group had accepted “put four bodies of prisoners from the occupation on Thursday, February 20, including the bibas family”.
Hamas said in November 2023 that they had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. The Israeli army has not confirmed the report. Israeli officials only said that they were seriously concerned about their lives.
An Israeli official told Reuters that the deceased hostages would have an identification in Israel before being appointed.
Hamas also appointed two of the six Israelis to be released on Saturday.
It was Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, who were seized respectively in 2014 and 2015 after crossing Gaza by themselves. The Israeli government said the two were suffering from mental health problems at the time.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages. In exchange, Israel agreed to release approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
Discussions on the progression of the second phase of the agreement – under which the remaining living hostages would be released and the war would end permanently – was to start earlier this month but has not yet started.
The Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that talks would start “this week”.
He said that Israel “would not accept the continuous presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza”, but said that Israel could extend the ceasefire if the discussions were productive.
“If we will see that there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon to reach an agreement (then), we will operate this period longer,” said Saar.
In total, 73 hostages are currently detained in Gaza – a mixture of Israeli soldiers and dead and alive civilians. This also includes Thai and Nepalese nationals.
Some 251 hostages were taken by Hamas when he attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people.
Israel responded with a 15 -month military offensive that killed 47,460 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and devastated the coastal enclave.
