Israel working to identify slain hostages after receiving remains from Red Cross

The IDF has received from the Red Cross the coffins of what Hamas has said are the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The bodies were handed over at the Kerem Shalom Crossing with “Egyptian mediation,” says the PMO.

Israel is now carrying out its initial forensic investigation.

The families of the four hostages are being updated constantly and will receive official notifications once identifications are made.

Anti-Israel activists at Columbia’s Barnard College invade campus building

Anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College, an affiliate of New York’s Columbia University, invade a campus building to protest the expulsion of two students who disrupted an Israeli professor’s class at the start of the semester.

The protesters share footage showing dozens of activists, mostly masked by keffiyehs, chanting and beating a drum in a hallway beneath several Palestinian flags.

The demonstrators chant, “Every fascist state must fall,” and “Palestine is Arab,” according to the footage.

BREAKING: 50+ COLUMBIA STUDENTS FLOOD ADMIN OFFICE OF BARNARD COLLEGE DEMANDING

1. Immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions.
2. Amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action or thought. Drop all the charges now!
3. A public meeting with Dean… pic.twitter.com/QKSBQ6jIUg

— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) February 26, 2025

The students say they are outside the college dean’s office.

The campus coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest, led by Columbia’s branches of Students for Justice in Palestine and the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, says in a statement that students are staging an “emergency sit-in” outside the dean’s office.

The group demands that the university reverse the expulsions, give amnesty to all students disciplined for anti-Israel protests, grant the activists a meeting with Barnard leadership, and abolish the college’s disciplinary system.

“When two students are expelled, hundreds more rise up,” the statement said. “The repression cannot stand! We will not rest until full amnesty.”

The protest group tells participants to wear a mask and avoid swiping their university ID.

Unity of Fields, an off-campus activist group, posts footage of activists shoving their way into a building and chanting “intifada revolution” and “free Palestine.”

BREAKING ????LONG LIVE HIND’S HALL! EVERY FASCIST STATE WILL FALL!

Students at Columbia University storm a building and sit-in to demand that the expulsions of the two Barnard Students are reversed. They’re calling for amnesty for all students disciplined during the Student… pic.twitter.com/bPThRuYsuI

— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) February 26, 2025

Jewish students post online that they have been blocked from entering the building and attending classes.

The Columbia says in a statement that “the disruption of academic activities is not acceptable conduct.”

“Barnard College is a separate institution from Columbia University, although it is affiliated. Columbia is not responsible for security on Barnard’s campus. The disruption that is taking place at Barnard’s Milbank Hall is not on Columbia’s campus, and Barnard’s leadership and security team are addressing the current situation,” the statement says.

Anti-Israel protesters forcibly occupied a building on the Columbia campus last year, leading to a police raid to clear them out and dozens of arrests.

Freed prisoners feted by Palestinians as they arrive in Ramallah

Freed Palestinian prisoners being released into the West Bank are greeted by masses of celebrants upon their arrival at Ramallah Cultural Palace.

Dressed in keffiyehs and jackets to conceal their prison uniforms, the ex-detainees are carried by the crowd once they exit the bus.

Arabic outlets report that a total of 37 Palestinians were freed into the West Bank, while five returned to their homes in East Jerusalem.

Of the 151 security prisoners to be freed tonight, 97 are slated for deportation, while another 12 will be released into Gaza, according to lists distributed by Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.

Another 467 Palestinians detained after October 7 will also return to Gaza, including 23 minors and one woman.

Red Cross bus brings Palestinian prisoners from West Bank prison to Ramallah

A Red Cross bus escorting Palestinian security prisoners leaves Ofer Prison and heads towards Beitunia checkpoint near Ramallah, where they will be released.

Hundreds of Palestinians are gathering at the Ramallah Cultural Palace to receive the freed prisoners.

Arabic media outlets report that prisoners slated for release into Jerusalem are being escorted to their homes in the city, from the Russian Compound detention center.

Israeli official says Red Cross has received slain hostages’ remains from Hamas

The four slain hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross, says an Israeli security official, citing information received from the humanitarian organization.

The coffins are on their way to Israeli forces at the Kerem Shalon crossing, says the official.

Israel is expected to carry out its forensic identification of the bodies near the border to determine whether Hamas has returned the hostages it is required to, a prerequisite for Israel releasing over 600 Palestinian prisoners.

Red Cross preparing to pick up Palestinian prisoners slated to be released into Gaza

Red Cross personnel in Gaza are preparing to receive hundreds of Palestinian prisoners slated to be released overnight into the enclave, in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Arabic outlets report.

Over 400 prisoners are expected to be released into the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas’s prisoners’ media office, most of whom were detained post-October 7.

Meanwhile in the West Bank, Israeli security forces are attempting to suppress celebrations surrounding the release near Ofer Prison, where 151 security prisoners are expected to go free.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reports that security forces project a message reading “Our eyes are on you” onto one of the buildings overlooking the prison. Army vehicles accompanied by a bulldozer are stationed on the perimeter of the facility.

המסר שהוקרן על אחד הבניינים שמשקיפים על כלא עופר: "העיניים שלנו צופות בכם" | תיעוד@OmerShahar123
צילום: מתוך שידור חי של AP pic.twitter.com/JxpK1ZmjEd

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 26, 2025