Hamas turns over bodies of 4 Israeli hostages

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was to end.

An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed the hostages’ bodies to the Red Cross. Israel said the caskets were delivered with the help of Egyptian mediators through an Israeli crossing and an identification process had begun.

At around the same time, a Red Cross convoy carrying several dozen released Palestinian prisoners left Israel’s Ofer prison headed for the West Bank town of Beitunia.

Hours later, buses carrying hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners arrived in the Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Israel had delayed the release of over 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it called the cruel treatment of hostages during their handover by Hamas. The terrorist group has called the delay a “serious violation” of the ceasefire and said talks on a second phase aren’t possible until the Palestinians are freed.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the releases of the bodies would be carried out without a ceremony, in a quieter fashion than past Hamas releases, when captives have been made to partake in highly stage-managed ceremonies.

Hamas previously has released hostages and the bodies of four dead hostages in large public ceremonies during which the Israelis were paraded and forced to wave to large crowds.

Israel, along with the Red Cross and U.N. officials, have said the ceremonies were humiliating to the hostages, and Israel last weekend delayed the scheduled prisoner release in protest.

The family of a hostage held in Gaza said they were notified that he is dead and that his body one of the four to be returned by Hamas late Wednesday.

Relatives of Tsachi Idan said that he was alive when taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the group representing families of the hostages.

Idan was taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. His eldest daughter, Maayan, was killed as terrorists shot through the door of the saferoom. Hamas terrorists broadcast themselves on Facebook live holding the Idan family hostage in their home, as his two younger children pleaded with the terrorists to let them go.

The family did not specify who informed them Idan was dead, although notifications typically come from the Israeli military.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X about Israeli-French hostage Ohad Yahalomi, whose body was also expected to be released: “In these suspended hours of pain and anguish, the nation stands by their side.”

A fragile ceasefire in peril

A deadlock over the latest exchange had threatened to collapse the ceasefire when the current six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend.

The latest agreement would complete both sides’ obligations of the first phase of the ceasefire — during which Hamas is returning 33 hostages, including eight bodies — in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

It also could clear the way for an expected visit this week by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region.

Witkoff has said he wants the sides to move into negotiations on the second phase, during which all remaining hostages held by Hamas are to be released and an end to the war is to be negotiated. The Phase 2 talks were supposed to begin weeks ago, but never did.

The ceasefire, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, ended 15 months of heavy fighting that erupted after the 2023 Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. About 250 people were taken hostage.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. health officials, which doesn’t differentiate between civilian and terrorist deaths.

Israel buries mother, sons killed in captivity in Gaza

Tens of thousands of Israelis lined highways as the bodies of a mother and her two young sons, killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip, were taken for burial on Wednesday.

The bodies of Shiri Bibas and her sons, 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel, were handed over earlier this month as part of a ceasefire deal that paused the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel says forensic evidence shows the two children were killed by their captors in November 2023, while Hamas says the family was killed along with their guards in an Israeli airstrike.

Yarden Bibas was abducted separately and released alive in a different handover last month. His wife and their two children were buried in a private ceremony near Kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza, where they were living when they were abducted. The three were buried in a joint grave next to Shiri’s parents, who were also killed in the attack.