Israel says next release of captives will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
Published On 27 Jan 2025
Israel says a Hamas list shows that eight of the 33 captives to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement are dead.
Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists on Monday that Hamas said the other 25 are alive. Israel overnight said it had received a list of information on the status of the captives from Hamas.
“The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives,” Mencer said, without providing the names of the deceased.
Israel has said the next release of captives will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
Approximately 90 captives are still being held. Prior to this announcement, Israel believed at least 35 of them were dead.
The truce deal in the Israel-Hamas conflict, announced earlier in January after months of fruitless negotiations, took effect on January 19, bringing to a halt more than 15 months of devastating war on Gaza sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks.
Under the first phase of the agreement, 33 captives held in Gaza are to be released in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel.
Seven Israeli women have been released since the start of the truce, as have 290 Palestinian prisoners.
Two Israeli women, Arbel Yehud and Agam Berger, are to be released on Thursday along with a third unidentified captive, following negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
Their upcoming release was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night as part of the truce agreement with Hamas.
According to Israel, Arbel Yehud, as a woman and a civilian, should have been released last Saturday in