Hamas to hand over four bodies, release six other Israeli captives
The deputy chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says the group will hand over the bodies of four Israeli captives on Thursday as part of the current Gaza ceasefire deal.
Khalil al-Hayya made the remarks in a televised speech on Tuesday, stating that members of Yarden Bibas family who was released on February 1 would be among four bodies to be returned to the occupied territories.
Yardan’s wife and two children, aged four and nine months, had died in an Israeli airstrike, according to Hamas. However, Israel hasn't confirmed their deaths.
This comes as Israeli media has reported that Tel Aviv is set to release all Palestinian women and children under 19, who were arbitrarily abducted from the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Hamas handing over the bodies of four captives
Israeli officials said the delivery of the captives' bodies was included in the yet-to-be-published annex to the truce agreement.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hayya noted that six more Israeli captives who are still alive will be released on Saturday.
The high-ranking Hamas official went on to say that the six to be released include Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto, who have been held in Gaza since before the war started 16 months ago.
Hamas was set to release only three living Israeli captives this weekend. The six to be released on Saturday are the last living hostages to be freed under the ceasefire’s first phase.
Israel launched its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime failed to achieve its declared objectives of freeing captives and eliminating Hamas despite killing at least 48,284 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.
After 15 months of genocide, Israel accepted Hamas’ longstanding negotiation terms under the Gaza ceasefire, which began on January 19.
The ceasefire consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days. In phase one - the current phase - a total of 33 Israeli captives will be released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian abductees held in the regime’s jails.
So far, Hamas has released 19 Israeli captives and five Thai nationals in return for 985 Palestinian abductees.
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