Hostages' family members marching to the Knesset on Jerusalem‘s Azza Street, February 17, 2025. (Jessica Steinberg/The Times of Israel)
Israeli and Hamas officials say that a deal has been reached for the terror group to free six living hostages on Saturday.
In addition, four bodies will be transferred to Israel on Thursday.
Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al Hayya says that the six living hostages will include two Israelis, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held for over a decade.
Al Hayya says the release will be conditioned on Israel living up to its part of the first phase of the deal.
Initially three living hostages had been set to go free on Saturday.
The six are believed to be the final living hostages on the list of those to be released in the first phase of the deal. Fourteen of the 33 hostages on the original phase 1 list have yet to be freed; Hamas has said eight of them are dead, and Israel has said that this matches its own information. The only name on the list whose death Israel has confirmed is Shlomo Mantzur. Israel has said it has “grave concerns” for the fate of Shiri Bibas and her young sons Ariel and Kfir.
It is believed that another 24 living hostages would be released under phase 2 of the deal.
A senior Israeli official confirms the details to the Walla news site.
Israel has said it will confirm the identity of the bodies released once they have been definitively identified.
Fourteen Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and scheduled for release in phase one of the ongoing ceasefire deal, as of February 15, 2025: Top row from left: Tsahi Idan, Oded Lifshitz, Ohad Yahalomi, Shlomo Mantzur, Itzik Elgarat. Middle row from left: Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed. Bottom row from left: Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Omer Shem-Tov (Courtesy)
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Tuesday, February 18, 2025
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