Doha – The Israeli government said today that Hamas shared a list showing eight of the 26 Israeli hostages still to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal are dead.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer conveyed to journalists that the list received overnight from Hamas on the status of the 33 hostages being freed under the ceasefire’s first phase showed that 25 are alive while eight are deceased. The families have been informed, he said.
Seven living hostages have already been freed since the deal began on January 19. Israel has said the next release, including hostages Arbel Yehoud and Agam Berger, will take place on Thursday, followed by another three hostages to be released on Saturday.
The announcement comes as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to northern Gaza on Monday for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month genocide. The massive crowds trudged along a seaside road under the watch of Israeli tanks positioned on nearby hills.
“It’s the joy of return,” Ismail Abu Matter, a Palestinian father of four who waited three days near the crossing point before moving into northern Gaza, told AP. “We had thought we wouldn’t return, like our ancestors,” he said.
Hamas described the return as “a victory for our people, and a declaration of failure and defeat for the occupation and transfer plans.”
Currently, 87 of the 251 who were taken hostage on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IOF soldier killed in 2014.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s genocide has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them being women and children. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forcefully displaced, fleeing constant aggression and violence over the last 15 months.
The ceasefire’s second phase, which has yet to be negotiated, is set to begin next Monday. Hamas has stated it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the genocide, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
In the meantime, Palestinians across the war-torn enclave are grappling to recover their dead and return to their old lives. “It was a long trip, but a happy one,” Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, told AP after walking 6 kilometers to reach her home in Gaza City, where she found it damaged but habitable and reunited with her younger sister for the first time in over a year.
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