Hamas confirms 4 female hostages to be released on Saturday, without naming them
IDF says displaced Palestinians can return to north Gaza next week if Hamas upholds truce; Mossad, Shin Bet chiefs in Cairo for talks with Egyptian intel chief

A Hamas official confirmed Tuesday that four Israeli female hostages would be freed on Saturday as part of the ceasefire deal that will also see Palestinian security prisoners released.
Taher al-Nunu said Hamas would release “four Israeli female detainees in exchange” for a second group of Palestinian inmates.
He did not name the four women who will be released after over 470 days in captivity. The hostage and ceasefire deal states that Hamas is required to provide the names of the hostages at least 24 hours ahead of their release, though the terror group failed to meet that condition for the first three women who were freed on Sunday.
Nunu’s statement came after a spokesperson for the terror group’s prisoners’ office claimed on Monday that the next hostage release would happen on Sunday, a day later than agreed, which was followed by a Hamas statement that the release would take place on Saturday after all.
There are seven female hostages remaining from the original list of 33 to be released in the first phase of the hostage ceasefire deal. Two of them are civilians: Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33.
There are also five female soldiers in captivity: Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, Agam Berger, 21, Danielle Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20.
Bibas’s two young sons Ariel and Kfir, now aged 5 and 2, are also held and are on the list, as is her husband, Yarden Bibas.
For each of the female soldiers, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of them convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences. Early Monday, Israel released 30 prisoners for each of the three civilian female hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher — Hamas set free the previous afternoon.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov said Tuesday that Russian-Israeli hostage Sasha Trufanov will be released from Gaza in the next few weeks and that he is “not entirely healthy,” but stable.

“Simple mathematics suggests, unfortunately, that we are not talking about the next waves of hostage releases, but within 3-4 weeks, judging by the schedule, he will be released,” Viktorov said on the Russia 24 TV station, according to the state-run TASS wire agency.
Trufanov, 28, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, alongside his mother, grandmother and girlfriend, while his father was murdered. The rest of his family was released in November 2023, and Trufanov has since been seen in two propaganda videos released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
Viktorov said that “unfortunately, there is information that [Trufanov] was injured and his state of health is not entirely satisfactory. We hope that for the remaining few days, his health will not deteriorate.”
The ambassador suggested that Trufanov was wounded during his abduction, but said that Hamas has made a “firm promise” to Moscow that he will be returned “alive and healthy” to Israel.
The dual Russian-Israeli citizen is on the list of the 33 hostages slated to be freed during the six-week first stage of the ceasefire, which includes those considered in the “humanitarian” category — women, children, men over the age of 50 and the sick and wounded. The expectation is that the women and elderly will be freed in the earlier stages, and the final 14 hostages will be freed only on the 42nd day.

After the four hostages set to be released this coming Saturday, three hostages will be released each Saturday over the following four weeks, until the final group of 14 on day 42 of the first phase of the ceasefire.
Israel has not been told how many of the 33 are alive, but under the agreement is expected to receive a full status report on all those on the list on Saturday.
In the second phase of the deal — if Israel and Hamas reach agreements preventing the resumption of the war — the terror group would release the remaining living captives, men under the age of 50. In the third phase, the bodies of all remaining hostages would be returned.
As the ceasefire held for a third day, the military said Tuesday that displaced Palestinians would soon be able to return to northern Gaza from the Strip’s south after being displaced at the beginning of the war, if Hamas upholds the ceasefire deal.
“If Hamas adheres to all details of the agreement, starting next week, residents of the Gaza Strip will be able to return to the northern Gaza Strip and instructions will be issued in this regard,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, said on X.

Under the agreement, on the seventh day of the ceasefire, unarmed Gazans will be allowed to return on foot to north Gaza without any inspection, via the coastal road. Vehicles returning to north Gaza will be required to undergo an inspection by a private company to be determined by the mediators and Israel.
On day 22, displaced unarmed Palestinians will be allowed to return to north Gaza on foot via Salah a-Din road, also without inspection, meaning that the IDF will be gradually withdrawing from the Netzarim Corridor in the Strip’s center.
Adraee also warned Gazans against approaching areas where troops are still deployed in Gaza, including the buffer zone along the entire border, the Netzarim Corridor, the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, and the shore.
Meanwhile, Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar were in Cairo for meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, the Prime Minister’s Office said, confirming reports in several Hebrew media outlets.
According to Ynet, the talks are focused on security arrangements for the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and the continued implementation of the ceasefire agreement.