Gaza ceasefire talks back on track after prisoner agreement

JERUSALEM

The United States said talks for a second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal were on track, as Hamas said Israel agreed to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.

Two senior Hamas officials said Palestinian militants would hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday in exchange for over 600 Palestinian prisoners under the Gaza ceasefire deal.

"Mediators have informed Hamas that the (hostage-prisoner) exchange will take place on Thursday... Hamas and other resistance factions will hand over four bodies of Israeli captives, and in return, Israel will release more than 600 Palestinian detainees," a Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday.

Another senior Hamas official said the "exchange will happen simultaneously."

In Israel, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her sons, who were killed in captivity in Gaza and had become symbols of the hostages' ordeal.

The ceasefire has largely halted the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and has seen 25 hostages released so far in exchange for hundreds of prisoners.

But its complexity and long-drawn-out implementation have highlighted its fragility in a war that has shattered millions of lives on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump's top envoy on the Middle East said Israeli representatives were en route to talks on the next phase of the ceasefire deal.

"We're making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak," Steve Witkoff told an event for the American Jewish Committee.

"It's either going to be in Doha or in Cairo, where negotiations will begin again with the Egyptians and the Qataris," he said.

Hamas said an agreement was reached on the delayed release of Palestinian prisoners.

"It was decided that they would be released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners, which had been agreed upon for handover during the first phase," Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday.

Israel has yet to confirm its release, and has not commented on whether it is sending a delegation to discuss the second phase of the truce.

This first phase is supposed to end on Saturday, but negotiations planned for the rest of the process — which were to begin in early February — have not yet started.

Hamas has said it is ready to release "in one go" all the hostages remaining during the second phase.

On Sunday, the group accused Israel of endangering the Gaza truce by delaying the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel justified the delay by citing concerns over how the hostages have been freed, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the process as "humiliating ceremonies".

  'Dignified swaps' 

Since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19, Hamas has released 25 living hostages in public ceremonies across Gaza, where masked, armed fighters have escorted the captives onto stages decorated with slogans.

Israel has released more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged all parties to carry out prisoner and hostage swaps "in a dignified and private manner".

In Israel, the prisoners are largely viewed as "terrorists" for the violent attacks they have carried out against civilians and security forces.

For Palestinians, however, the releases are viewed as long-delayed justice with the prisoners often regarded as symbols of resistance against Israeli occupation.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, but it has so far largely held.

Israel's war in Gaza killed more than 48,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations deems credible.

In Israel, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people attended the funeral of hostage Oded Lifshitz, a peace activist and former journalist who died in captivity and whose body was returned last week.

Alongside the Gaza war, which displaced much of the enclave's population of 2.4 million, Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it also carried out air strikes targeting military sites containing weapons in southern Syria, just days after Netanyahu called for demilitarising the area.

At least two people were killed by a strike on one of the sites, the headquarters of a military unit southwest of Damascus, a war monitor said.