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The six remaining living hostages held by Hamas set to be released under the first phase of a fragile ceasefire with Israel will be freed this weekend.
Of the 33 hostages set to be freed under phase one of the three-stage ceasefire deal, 19 have already been released.
Israel says eight are dead of the remaining 14. This means the six to be freed on Saturday are the final living hostages to be exchanged under the first phase of the deal.
Hamas said it would return four bodies during the exchange, which will also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The Bibas family will be included in the handover of these bodies, referring to Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, Hamas said.
Israel has said it was gravely concerned about the Bibas family, while Hamas claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war.
Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time, was the youngest hostage taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
A video of the abduction showed Shiri swaddling her redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men.
Yarden Bibas, the husband and father, was kidnapped separately and released earlier this month.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza as part of efforts to accelerate the hostages’ release, officials said.
Hamas last week threatened to hold up releases, citing the refusal to allow in mobile homes and heavy equipment among other alleged violations of the truce.
Hamas would still hold some 70 captives, around half believed to be dead, after the phase one of the ceasefire ends.
The ceasefire’s current phase ends at the beginning of March, and there are fears that fighting will resume.
The group killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 in the 7 October attack.
More than half the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals, while eight have been rescued in military operations.
Israel’s air and ground war killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-ran health ministry.
Source: independent.co.uk
