Hamas list shows eight hostages to be freed during ceasefire are dead

Jerusalem: Israel says a Hamas list shows that eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead.

Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists that Hamas had said the other 25 were alive. Israel said it had received a list of information on the status of the hostages from Hamas.

Thousands of displaced Palestinians walk towards their homes in northern Gaza, via the Netzarim Corridor, during the ceasefire in central Gaza, on Monday.Credit: Bloomberg

Israel said the next release of hostages would take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.

Whether hostages are alive or dead inside Gaza has been a heartbreaking question for waiting families who have pushed the Israeli government to reach a deal to free them, fearing that time was running out.

About 90 hostages are still in captivity. Before this latest list, Israel believed at least 35 of them were dead.

The news came as Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas.

The United Nations said more than 200,000 people were seen moving north in Gaza on Monday morning, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.

“It’s the joy of return,” said Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four. He said people were singing, praying and crying as they reunited with relatives.

An Egyptian official said Egyptian contractors, along with a US company, were running checkpoints in Gaza, inspecting vehicles heading north via Salahuddin Road. The contractors are part of an Egyptian-Qatari committee implementing the ceasefire, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Thousands of Palestinians are traveling back to the devastated neighborhoods of northern Gaza after being displaced during the Israel-Hamas war, as a fragile 42-day ceasefire moves into its second week. Credit: Bloomberg

The three-phase ceasefire is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, and securing the release of dozens of hostages captured in the militants’ October 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the fighting. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are also set to be freed in the exchange.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s parliament speaker, Hanafy al-Gebaly, strongly rejected the “clean out” idea, promoted by US President Donald Trump, of moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank and into Egypt or Jordan, saying this could spread conflict to other parts of the Middle East.

Thousands of Palestinians are returning to find their homes destroyed by the Israeli bombardment.Credit: Bloomberg

Gebaly, who didn’t address Trump’s comments directly, told parliament that such proposals “are not only a threat to the Palestinians, but they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability”.

“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a carefully crafted statement rejecting any “temporary or long-term” transfer of Palestinians out of their territories.

The ministry warned that such a move “threatens stability, risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and co-existence among its people”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the “voluntary emigration” of large numbers of Palestinians and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Israel had delayed the crossing’s opening, which was supposed to happen on Sunday, saying it would not allow Palestinians north until a civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, had been released. Israel said she should have been released before four female soldiers freed on Saturday.

Qatar said early on Monday that Yehoud and two other hostages would be released by Friday. Israel said the release – which will include female soldier Agam Berger — will take place on Thursday. Another three hostages should be released on Saturday as previously planned.

On a hill overlooking Gaza, Israelis have mixed emotions about the ceasefire.

“I am not ready to put my children to sleep near the lion’s cage any more,” said Hananel Gabay, a guide at a hillside lookout point and a resident of Sderot, near the border with Gaza.

He said the Palestinians in Gaza had made their intentions towards Israel clear, and the country now needed “real security, and to hurt our enemies where it hurts them – to take territory”.

Others disagreed. “Let them come back home safely and conduct a normal life,” one woman watching, Rachel Osher, said of the Palestinians. “We also want it. We want the same on both sides of the border.”

Avi Shukrun said that above all, the remaining hostages must be brought home.

AP

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