By SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN, Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas will return the bodies of four dead Israeli hostages on Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the group said, just days before the first phase of the ceasefire between the warring parties was to expire.
Israel has delayed the release of about 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it says is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas.
The group has said that the delay is a “serious violation” of their ceasefire and that talks on a second phase aren’t possible until the Palestinians are freed.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Hamas would hand over the bodies of four Israelis the next day.
In exchange, Israel would release the Palestinian prisoners, as well as an unspecified number of women and minors detained since the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel that sparked the conflict.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
An Israeli official confirmed that the bodies of four hostages were expected to be turned over but provided no further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak with the media.
Israel and Hamas had already said on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached to return the bodies of the hostages, but no date had been announced.
Hamas 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.
There will be no public ceremony when the four bodies in the latest exchange are returned to Israel in the early hours of Thursday, according to a senior Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak with the media.
A fragile ceasefire in peril
The deadlock over the 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.
Mourners gather around the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
It also could clear the way for an expected visit this week by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region.
Witkoff has said that 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 Hamas’ 2023 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 Palestinian health officials, displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population and decimated the territory’s infrastructure and health system. The Hamas-run Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but it says that over half of the dead have been women and children.
Another infant in Gaza dies of hypothermia
With people are living in tent camps and damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip, health officials said another infant had died of hypothermia Wednesday, bringing the toll to seven over the past two weeks.
Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said a baby less than two months old died due to the “severe cold wave” that has hit the Palestinian enclave.
Temperatures have been below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night and the last few days have been particularly cold.
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
