UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE
By Rania Abu Shamala
ISTANBUL (AA) – The Palestinian resistance group Hamas began to hand over the remains of four Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said the transfer of the hostages’ coffins began, without specifying the location of the handover.
The Israeli army confirmed that two caskets were collected by the Red Cross and were being transferred to Israeli forces inside Gaza.
The army said that two more caskets will be collected by the Red Cross in the evening.
Hamas earlier said that it would hand over the remains of four hostages to the Red Cross under the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire plan.
The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said the bodies of Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi, and Daniel Perez would be transferred.
Hamas released 20 living Israeli hostages early Monday in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a plan he laid out Sept. 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip. The first phase of the deal came into force on Friday.
Phase two of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas’ participation, the formation of a multinational force, and the disarmament of Hamas.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 67,800 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.