Israel prepares to receive 6 more hostages as fragile ceasefire appears to hold

Israel prepared Saturday to receive six more hostages, the latest exchange to take place under a fragile ceasefire that was threatened this week by the return of a misidentified body.

Four of the hostages set to be released Saturday at 8:30 a.m. were taken by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group, during its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Another two have been held since long before the war, entering Gaza separately under unexplained circumstances around a decade ago.

In exchange, Israel is set to release more than 600 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

The latest exchange is set to take place despite Israeli allegations that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised on Thursday.

Hamas said that Bibas’ remains appeared to have been mixed up with other human remains taken from rubble after an Israeli airstrike hit the place she was held. It said it had handed over Biabas’ body to the Red Cross on Friday. The Red Cross confirmed receiving human remains and said it had transferred them to Israeli authorities.

Israeli officials said the remains were taken to a forensics lab for testing.

Earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas will “pay the price” for failing to release the body of Bibas as prescribed by the peace agreement with Israel.

In a video statement, Netanyahu said “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.”

The bodies of three Israeli hostages and the body of a fourth, unidentified woman, were returned to Israel on Thursday in the latest release under the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Those released Thursday included the youngest captives — infant Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old when he was kidnapped, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel Bibas.

The body of their mother, Shiri Bibas, was also supposed to be released. But the Israeli military said the female body was not Bibas. The body does not belong to any other hostage and remains unidentified, the military said.

The Israeli military accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement.

“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obliged under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,” the military said in a statement.

The Bibas family was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Video of the abduction showed Shiri Bibas swaddling the boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men.

Hamas has said the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. Israel never confirmed that claim. Their father, Yarden Bibas, was kidnapped separately and returned alive earlier this month.

The body of fellow Nir Oz resident Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted from his home, was also released Thursday.

Israel and Hamas are in the first phase of a ceasefire that began on Jan. 19. Talks on the second phase are scheduled to begin this week, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Hamas killed about 1,200 people in the October 2023 attack on Israel and took about 250 people as hostages. More than half of the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals, while eight were rescued in military operations.

Israel's air and ground war killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says the death toll includes 17,000 militants. The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced most of its population of 2.3 million.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.