Hamas says ready to free all hostages at once in Gaza truce phase two

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of the ongoing ceasefire agreement.

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile Gaza truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages, as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nounou told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other militant groups.

Nounou said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released by militants so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.

- 'Held onto hope' -

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next, including the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night following Hamas's announcement.

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.

The national forensic institute in Tel Aviv has mobilized 10 doctors to expedite the identification process, public broadcaster Kan reported on Wednesday.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The October attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.