Netanyahu’s Office Decides Fate of 6 Hostages and 4 Bodies
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that an agreement has been reached to release six living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday.
In a statement, the office declared, “In the Cairo negotiations, understandings were reached to release the six living hostages from the first phase on Saturday. Four detained bodies will be handed over to Israel next Thursday. According to the agreement, four more bodies are expected to be delivered to Israel next week.”
On the other hand, Khaled al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiation team, confirmed that his movement will release six living Israeli hostages on the upcoming Saturday and four bodies on Thursday, as part of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement.
Al-Hayya stated, “The movement and resistance factions have decided to release all remaining agreed-upon living occupation prisoners in the first phase, numbering six,” indicating that Israel will release a new batch of Palestinian detainees in exchange according to agreed-upon criteria.
He emphasized that Hamas has “demonstrated its seriousness in executing the agreement responsibly, while the occupation and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government respond with delay and attempts to evade the agreement’s implementation, especially in the humanitarian aspect.”
He further confirmed that Hamas is working with mediators “regarding the introduction of relief materials, shelter, heavy equipment, fuel, and travel through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, both ways, and allowing fishing in the sea to alleviate the suffering of our people and their steadfastness on their land.”
Earlier, both Israeli and Palestinian sources reported “efforts” being made to release a number of hostages this week.
A well-informed Palestinian source mentioned that “a proposal was presented by the mediators in recent days, and there was agreement on it to deliver several bodies of Israeli prisoners and increase the number of living hostages in the seventh batch” scheduled for release on Saturday.
