Hamas said on Tuesday that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people in the hands of the group, KFIR and Ariel Bibas.
The group will also release six living hostages on Saturday, instead of the three who were expected, said Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the group negotiating team, in a statement.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached during the negotiations in Cairo for “four killed hostages” to be transferred on Thursday and “six living hostages” who will be released on Saturday.
It added that “expected four extra killed hostages to be transferred to Israel next week.”
Later on Tuesday it called Gostage and Missing Families Forum the six Israeli hostages who are expected to be released on Saturday.
“The forum of hostages and missing families welcomes the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shaham, Omer Sem TOV, Omer Werkt, Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu this Saturday,” the forum said in a statement.
“Although we feel a profound relief when they return home, we have been destroyed by the news that the remains of four of our loved ones will be returned this Thursday,” the statement added.
Burgers Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu were both held in Gaza about a decade, after they have been held hostage after they have crossed the border in 2015 and 2014, according to the forum respectively.
A spokesperson for the forum said that the families of all hostages set up for release, dead and alive have been informed.
Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israelis, as in recent weeks.
It is the clearest indication that the Bibas – children – who were only nine months and four years respectively, when they were abducted in October 2023 – are indeed dead.
Israel has not yet confirmed their death and has not yet commented on Hamas' announcement.
An Egyptian source with knowledge of the issue confirmed to CNN that conversations with Egyptian, Qatari, Israeli and American officials were successful, and Hamas will release the remaining hostages of phase one of the handrail on Saturday.
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that KFIR and Ariel Bibas were killed with their mother in an Israeli air raid and released a video from their father Yarden, who was also hostage, in which he blamed the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their death.
At the time, an Israeli military spokesperson called the video 'psychological terror', but the army told family members that they may not live, according to a spokesperson for hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Hamas published Yarden Bibas, Alive, on February 1.
The Bibas family and in particular KFIR have become one of the most recognizable victims of the terror attacks of October 7.
KFIR's photo has been shown on many of the posters that are called for the release of hostages who have been shown in Israel and the world for the past 15 months. In it the red -haired baby boy holds a pink elephant toys and looks directly into the camera with a toothless smile.
The announcement of Hamas came on the day that Israel said it would start with conversations in the second phase of the Gaza hostel agreement agreement.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that negotiations could start 'this week' after discussions with 'our American friends'.
He aimed to reach an agreement on the 42nd day of the Armistice, as laid down in the original deal, and said that the possibility of an agreement was an “option” in the longer term.
CNN's Eugenia Yosef and NABRAHIM contributed to this report.
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