The Israeli government revealed Monday that eight of the remaining 26 hostages Hamas agreed to release during this phase of the ceasefire have been killed.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a six-week ceasefire earlier this month, and as a condition of the deal, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization promised to release 33 of the roughly 100 hostages it held dating back to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Hamas has already released seven of the hostages.
Of the remaining 26 hostages Hamas has agreed to release in this phase of the ceasefire, 18 are believed to be alive, government spokesman David Mencer said Monday. The next release of hostages, which will include Arbel Yehoud and Agam Berger, will take place Thursday, followed by another three hostages to be released over the weekend.
The 33 hostages Hamas agreed to release are women, children, men aged over 50, and unwell and injured men. Israel agreed to release 30 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for one Israeli civilian hostage and 50 for every female Israel Defense Forces soldier.
Hamas will still hold roughly 60 hostages following the conclusion of the six-week ceasefire deal. Israel and Hamas have not agreed on how to move forward afterward, though there is a framework already established.
Hamas wants Israel’s war against it to end permanently, which would give the group the opportunity to regroup and reconstitute, while Israeli officials want to ensure their inability to do just that.
There is a framework for a second and third phase of the ceasefire.
In the second, Hamas would release all remaining living hostages in exchange for Israel completely withdrawing its military presence from Gaza. The third phase, if agreed upon, would likely include Hamas giving up the bodies of any remaining hostages in exchange for the beginning of the reconstruction of the enclave.
Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 others during the Oct. 7 attack that reshaped the Middle East.
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Israel’s retaliatory war has devastated the Gaza Strip. Roughly 45,000 people have been killed during the war, including about half of whom were civilians. Most of the population is now struggling to have access to basic care and humanitarian needs.
President Donald Trump suggested over the weekend that most of Gaza’s population should be temporarily resettled elsewhere, including to Egypt and Jordan, to “just clean out” the war-ravaged enclave. Egyptian, Jordanian, and Palestinian leaders rejected the idea over concerns that Israel would not allow them to return.