An agreement has been reached regarding the release of the four remaining phase one Gaza hostages, along with the Palestinian prisoners who were not released on Saturday, Hamas announced in a statement.
“An agreement was reached to solve the problem of the occupation delaying the release of the prisoners who should have been released in the last batch, provided that they are released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners agreed to be handed over, in addition to the corresponding number of Palestinian women and children,” the statement said.
Additionally, Israel has requested that hostage bodies be transferred from Gaza to the Red Cross through Egypt, in order to prevent “celebrations,” Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Tuesday night.
Prisoner release delay
Israel’s decision to delay the release of the prisoners came when Hamas transferred the remains of an anonymous woman’s body they claimed was Shiri Bibas on Friday.
The Prime Minister’s Office also cited Hamas’s repeated violations of the ceasefire-hostage deal as the reason for the postponement, saying the release would be postponed until additional Israeli hostage releases are secured.
Gazans celebrate Israeli hostages’ deaths
The bodies of the deceased hostages Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, as well as Oded Lifshitz, were paraded on a stage as Gazans celebrated, leading to global condemnations demanding a dignified transfer of bodies.
Hamas has built a stage ahead of every hostage release so far, holding ceremonies and inviting local Gazans to spectate. The posters on such instances featured inscriptions such as “victory of the oppressed people vs. Nazi Zionism,” “Palestinian fighters of freedom will always be victorious, and calling Gaza a “graveyard of the criminal Zionists.”
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