The Palestinian militant organization Hamas on Tuesday said it has reached an agreement with Israel for the simultaneous release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners by Israel and the return of four Israeli hostages’ bodies by Hamas.
The deal aims to break the deadlock that had threatened to derail the ceasefire agreement before its first phase is completed.
Hamas said the planned release of Palestinian prisoners – halted by Israel days earlier – would now take place alongside the handover of the bodies of Israeli hostages.
The group did not specify when the exchange would happen. There was initially no official confirmation from Israel.
However, several Israeli media outlets, citing Israeli officials, confirmed the agreement between the two warring parties announced by Hamas.
The Times of Israel, citing an official, reported that the release would be carried out through Egypt on Wednesday.
Early on Sunday, Israel halted the release of Palestinian prisoners outlined in the ceasefire deal, stating that Hamas must first guarantee an end to what it described as “humiliating ceremonies” surrounding the release of Israeli hostages.
The suspension affected more than 600 Palestinian prisoners who were set to be freed in exchange for six Israeli hostages.
The Hamas-allied al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades said that it will turn over the body of a 50-year-old Israeli on Thursday, with Israeli media reporting that the handover is part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Large crowds line Bibas family funeral procession
A public funeral procession for Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, who were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip, got under way in Israel on Wednesday morning.
Tens of thousands of people lined the route, Israeli news site ynet reported.
According to eyewitnesses, many people brought orange balloons in memory of the two ginger-haired boys, Kfir and Ariel, who at the time of their abduction were only 9 months and 4 years old, making them the youngest hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks.
Many people held up signs simply saying “Sorry.” A woman who attended the procession told dpa that many onlookers were fighting back tears.
The Times of Israel reported the coffins were brought from the Tel Aviv area to the south of the country, where the family is set to be buried near their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz in a private ceremony.
The eulogies are being broadcast live.
Yarden Bibas, the husband of Shiri and father of Kfir and Ariel who was released from captivity in Gaza at the beginning of February, travelled south inside the vehicle carrying the coffins, ynet reported.
Shiri Bibas’ body was handed over by Palestinian extremist group Hamas on Friday, one day after the remains of her children. Another coffin that Hamas initially handed over to the Red Cross alongside the children contained the body of another, unknown woman.
The mix-up – whether deliberate or accidental – caused great outrage in Israel.
Following a forensic examination of the bodies, the army announced that the two children had been brutally murdered by the kidnappers in November 2023. Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The display of the bodies by Hamas was sharply criticized internationally, after they were laid out on a stage amid cheering onlookers and masked fighters while loud music played.
Some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 abducted in the unprecedented Hamas-attacks on southern Israel more than 16 months ago. The massacre triggered the latest Gaza war, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
