Hamas released four bodies of Israeli hostage while it waited for hundreds of Palestinia prisoners to be freed by Israeli in return during an overnight exchange marking the final swap as part of a fragile truce in Gaza.
Despite numerous stebacks, the ceasefire came into effects on January 19 and has largely held. But its first phase is due to end this week and the fate of its next phase, which aims to end the war, remains unclear.
On Thursday, February 27, 2025, Hamas said it was ready to begin talks on the second phase, and that the only way remaining hostages would be freed is through commitment to the ceasefire.
After days of deadlock, Egyptian mediators on Wednesday negotiated the release of the bodies of the final four hostages in the first phase of the deal in exchange for 620 Palestinians held by Israeli forces in Gaza or imprisoned in Israel.
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Israel had refused to release prisoners on Saturday after Hamas handed over six hostages in a staged ceremony.
Hamas had been parading living hostages and coffins holding hostage remains on stage in front of a crowd in Gaza before turning them over, prompting strong criticism from the United Nations.
The final handover did not include such a ceremony.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the eraly hours of thursday, Israel received coffins carrying the remains of the four hostages.
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Hamas had already identified the bodies as those of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur, who were abducted from their kibbutz homes near Gaza on October 7, 2023.
The corpses were being identified on Israeli territory, and families of the hostages would be notified once the procedure was completed, according to Netanyahu’s office.
