The Hamas Militant Group said on Thursday that he is ready to start talks about the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, after several hundred Palestinians were released from Israeli arrests at night in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.
It was the final exchange of the first six-week phase of a ceasefire in Gaza that came into force on January 19.
Israel said Thursday morning that three of the hostages whose bodies were received at night were murdered in captivity and the fourth had been killed on the day of Hamas’s attack to Israel in October 2023, which rushed the war.
There was no immediate response from Hamas to the allegation that the hostages were killed in captivity. The group had already denied the murder of hostages and said some died as a result of Israeli bombing.
The conversations have not yet begun in a second phase of the ceasefire, which must ultimately lead to a permanent end of the war that destroyed much of the enclave.
The Israeli government faces public pressure to maintain the ceasefire and release the remaining hostages, while some members of the right-wing government want to return to war to fulfill their goal of eradicating Hamas.
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The terrible conditions of hostages delivered in recent weeks, including some who seemed to be languishing and others, including a baby Israel says they were murdered, intensified the public fury in Israel, potentially impacting negotiations to extend the truce.
Hamas said on Thursday that the only way to release the remaining hostages in Gaza is through the commitment to ceasefire.
“We renew our full commitment to the ceasefire agreement and confirm our willingness to negotiate for the second phase of the agreement,” the group said in a statement.
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There are 54 hostages still detained in Gaza. Israeli authorities believe that less than half are still alive.
