Hamas hands over 4 hostages who died

Mourners raise a poster bearing an illustration of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, as people gather to pay their respects at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on February 26, 2025, on the day of their funeral procession. Thousands of mourners, carrying flags and orange balloons, joined the funeral procession on February 26 for Shiri Bibas and her two sons, who were among the hostages taken by Palestinian militants in Gaza in October 2023, and died during their captivity. Their bodies were returned to Israel on February 20 as part of an ongoing ceasefire agreement that has halted the war in Gaza. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

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By Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Josef Federman

The Associated Press

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed over four dead hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will end.

An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed the bodies to the Red Cross. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.

At around the same time, a Red Cross convoy carrying dozens of released Palestinian prisoners left Israel’s Ofer prison. Crowds of cheering families, friends and supporters of Palestinian prisoners were gathered in Beitunia jostling for a glimpse of the bus that was on its way.

Israel had delayed the release of over 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it called the cruel treatment of hostages during their handover by Hamas. The militant group has called the delay a “serious violation” of the ceasefire and said talks on a second phase aren’t possible until the Palestinians are freed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had said Wednesday that the release of the bodies would be carried out without a ceremony, as opposed to past Hamas releases with stage-managed events in front of crowds. Israel, along with the Red Cross and U.N. officials, have called the ceremonies humiliating for the hostages.

Among those leaving Israel early Thursday were hundreds of detainees arrested from Gaza, held on suspicion of militancy after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, without charge for months. They include 445 men, 21 teenagers and one woman who were all arrested after the Hamas attack, according to lists shared by Palestinian officials that did not specify their ages.

Only around 50 Palestinians were being released into the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in this round. Dozens sentenced to life over deadly attacks against Israelis will be exiled out of the Palestinian territories, taken to Egypt at least temporarily until other countries accept them.

The handover will complete both sides’ obligations under the ceasefire’s first phase, during which Hamas returned 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The family of a hostage in Gaza said it was notified he is dead and his body was among those to be returned to Israel.

The family did not say who informed it. Notifications typically come from Israel’s military.

Tsachi Idan was taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. His eldest daughter, Maayan, was killed as militants shot through the door of the safe room. Hamas militants broadcast themselves on Facebook holding the family hostage in their home.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X about Israeli French hostage Ohad Yahalomi, whose body was also expected to be released: “In these suspended hours of pain and anguish, the nation stands by their side.”

The ceasefire’s six-week first phase expires this weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said he wants the sides to move into negotiations on the second phase, during which all remaining hostages held by Hamas would be released and an end to the war would be negotiated.

Talks on the second phase were supposed to begin the first week of February.

The ceasefire, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, ended 15 months of war that erupted after Hamas’ 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. About 250 people were taken hostage.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but say over half the dead have been women and children.

The fighting also displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population and decimated the territory’s infrastructure and health system.