Israel has received a list of the names of the deceased hostages that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is to hand over in the Gaza Strip on Thursday under the ceasefire agreement.
The relatives of the hostages have been informed, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement published on Wednesday.
“At this difficult hour, our hearts are with the grieving families,” the statement said.
It added that further information will be provided, and requested that people refrain from spreading rumours and unofficial information.
According to Hamas and Israeli media reports, the four deceased hostages include a mother and two small children, as well as an elderly man.
Israel has anxiously awaited the names to confirm the fate of members of the Bibas family.
Yarden Bibas was freed on February 1. Video footage of his wife, Shiri, and their two red-headed young sons, Ariel and Kfir, during their abduction was seen around the world following the attacks by Hamas and other militants on October 7, 2023.
Hamas previously said that members of the Bibas family are among the deceased hostages.
The militant group has claimed the three Bibas family members were killed in Israeli attacks in the early months of the ensuing war in Gaza, but Israel has never confirmed their deaths.
Hamas is also set to free six living Israeli hostages on Saturday, in the last round of releases under the initial six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19.
The final step in the first phase of the agreement will be the handover of four more bodies of hostages next week, Netanyahu’s office said.
The multi-stage ceasefire agreement stipulates that during the first six-week phase, a total of 33 hostages will be gradually released in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has released 19 Israeli hostages so far, as well as five Thai hostages who were not covered by the ceasefire agreement.
Five reservists charged in Israel in abuse case
Israel’s military prosecution has charged five reservists suspected of involvement in the serious mistreatment of a Palestinian prisoner, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.
They are accused of committing severe acts, including sexualized violence, against the detainee.
Israeli media reported that the reservists had so severely mistreated a member of Hamas that he had to be taken to a hospital with various injuries. According to the reports, the individual is said to originate from the Gaza Strip.
The accused reportedly received orders on July 5, 2024, to search the prisoner upon his arrival at the Sde Teiman military base near the desert city of Beersheba, Israel’s military stated. The prisoner was reportedly blindfolded, and his hands and ankles were bound.
Evidence in the case was collected over a period of six months. This evidence was described as “extensive and included medical records and authentic footage from the installed surveillance cameras,” according to the Israeli military.
Israeli military police initially arrested 10 soldiers in connection with the case, but five of them were later released.
There are frequent reports of dire conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody.
Israeli military says three wanted Palestinians killed in West Bank
The Israeli military has killed three Palestinians in an operation in the northern West Bank, it said in a statement.
The men were wanted for selling weapons for terrorist purposes near Tubas, a statement from the military said on Wednesday.
Two other men were detained in the operation in northern Samaria, the military said, adding that several weapons had been found at the scene of the arrest.
According to Palestinian reports, the soldiers had surrounded a house in the Fara refugee neighbourhood south of Tubas.
The already tense situation in the West Bank has intensified significantly since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting some 250 to the Gaza Strip.
The Health Ministry has recorded that more than 870 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since in Israeli military operations, armed confrontations and extremist attacks.
The Israeli military has recently stepped up military operations against militant Palestinians in the northern West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.
