Hamas announced Thursday that it was prepared to engage in talks for the second phase of a Gaza cease-fire after Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners overnight in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.
It was the final exchange of the six-week first phase of a cease-fire in Gaza that came into effect on Jan. 19.
Israel claimed Thursday morning that three of the hostages whose bodies it had received overnight had been murdered in captivity and the fourth had been killed on the day of the October 2023 Hamas incursion into Israel that triggered the war.
There was no immediate response from Hamas to the allegation the hostages had been killed in captivity. The group has previously denied killing hostages and said some had died as a result of Israeli bombardment.
Talks have yet to begin on a second phase of the cease-fire, meant to lead ultimately to a permanent end to the war which has destroyed much of the enclave.
Israel’s government faces public pressure to stick to the cease-fire to free remaining hostages while some within the right-wing government want to return to war to fulfill their objective of eradicating Hamas.
The condition of hostages handed over in recent weeks, including some who appeared emaciated and others including a baby that Israel says was murdered, have intensified public fury in Israel, potentially impacting talks to extend the truce.
Hamas said Thursday the only way remaining hostages in Gaza would be freed is through commitment to the cease-fire.
“We renew our full commitment to the cease-fire agreement, and confirm our readiness to enter into negotiations for the second phase of the agreement,” the group said in a statement.
There are 54 hostages still held in Gaza. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half are still alive.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan that Israel demanded that the military stay the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs the length of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Israeli troops are supposed to start withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border area on Saturday, when the first phase of the cease-fire is set to end.
Israel and Hamas were supposed to start negotiations over the second phase of the agreement on the 16th day of the cease-fire but there has been little indication of progress.
Cohen said Israel was in a stronger position to negotiate now than it was on the eve of the cease-fire because it has full backing from the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, which this month began shipping heavy bombs.
Egyptian mediators Wednesday secured the handover of the bodies of the final four hostages in the deal’s first phase, in return for 620 Palestinians either detained by Israeli forces in Gaza or jailed in Israel.
Israel had earlier refused to release prisoners on Saturday after Hamas handed over six hostages in a staged ceremony.
Hamas had been displaying living hostages and coffins on stage in front of crowds in Gaza before handing them over, to criticism including from the United Nations. The final handover did not include such a ceremony.
President Isaac Herzog in a post on X confirmed the bodies received overnight were those of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur, all taken during the Oct. 7, 2023 incursion from their kibbutz homes near Gaza.
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