From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 17, 2025
Israel preparing for Hamas to return bodies of 4 hostages on Thursday, as stipulated in hitherto unpublished part of deal
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel is expecting to receive the bodies of four hostages from Hamas on Thursday, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The agreement with Hamas stipulates that the bodies of a number of hostages will be returned to Israel on the 33rd day of the ceasefire, which falls on Thursday, the Israeli official says.
The IDF has already begun preparations for their return.
The names of the hostages will be given to Israel on Thursday morning and will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute by IDF ambulances. Families will only be updated after the bodies are properly identified, says the Kan public broadcaster.
The Prime Minister’s Office has yet to publicly confirm any of this.
Three living hostages are also expected to be released as scheduled on Saturday. Israel is reportedly pushing for all six of the living hostages yet to be freed in phase one to be released on Saturday.
Texts of the hostage-ceasefire deal that have been published to date state that human remains would be returned after living hostages in phase one, indicating that the arrangement revealed today is part of hitherto unpublished elements of the deal. The full terms of the deal have never been officially published.
Haaretz and Channel 12 report that four more bodies are to be returned next week.
