Report: Hamas Will Hand Over Hostages' Bodies This Week

Followed by 3, or maybe 6, living hostages this weekend, sources say
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2025 2:30 AM CST
Report: Hamas Will Hand Over Hostages' Bodies This Week
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza gather for a rally marking 500 days of captivity and demanding their release in Jerusalem on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025.   (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel is preparing to receive the bodies of four hostages from Hamas Thursday, an Israeli security official tells news outlets including the Times of Israel, the Jerusalem Post, and Reuters. In addition, sources tell NBC News Israel and Hamas are in talks to double the number of living hostages released this weekend to six from an original plan of three. If that happens and both the Thursday and Saturday releases go as planned, just four of the 33 hostages scheduled to be released during the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement will remain in Gaza; all four of those are believed to be dead. They are believed to be scheduled to be returned to Israel Feb. 27.

Israel's next release will include all female Palestinian prisoners and anyone under the age of 19 who was arrested on or around Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and started the war. No talks have yet begun regarding the second phase of the ceasefire. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

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