Gaza, MINA – The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas handed over the corpses of four Israeli hostages on Wednesday night in accordance with a ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange from Gaza, Anadolu Agency reported.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister announced on Thursday that it had received coffins containing the bodies of the four hostages, which were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross.
Initial identification procedures have begun to confirm the identities of the corpses.
Earlier, Channel 7 Israel reported that the Red Cross had delivered the bodies to Israeli soldiers at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, marking the final stage of the prisoner exchange agreement under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
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An Israeli forensic team arrived at the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza to prepare for the receipt of the corpses and carry out preliminary identification.
In exchange, a bus carrying dozens of Palestinian prisoners arrived at the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, West Bank.
This release was part of the delayed seventh wave of the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the four corpses were returned “without Hamas ceremony.”
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The first phase of the Gaza agreement took effect on January 19, halting the Israeli war, which had killed more than 48,300 people, mostly women and children, and left the region in ruins.
So far, 25 Israeli hostages and eight corpses have been released from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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