Hamas says it will restore the bodies of four hostages, including the Pepas family

Hamas says it will hand over the bodies of four hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people with the Palestinian Armed Group.

The negotiator of the group, Khalil Al -Hayya, said that the bodies that will be released will include those in the Pepas -Sherry family and their young children Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months and four years old when Hamas kidnapped them during the October 7, 2023 attack.

Hamas claims that the three were killed in the Israeli bombing. Israel did not confirm this.

The father of the children Yarden was I released Hamas Earlier this month.

Al-Hayia said that Hamas will also issue six neighborhood hostages on Saturday-to double the planned number in the first place.

On the other hand, Israel will liberate all the women and those under the age of 19 years have been arrested since last October and allow some equipment to remove the rubble to Gaza across the border with Egypt.

In a statement, Al -Hayya said that the group agreed to “hand over more than four bodies of the occupation prisoners on Thursday, February 20, including the bodies of the Pepas family.”

Hamas claimed in November 2023 that they were killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. The Israeli army did not confirm the report. Only Israeli officials said they were very concerned about their lives.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the deceased hostages would be subject to identification in Israel before its name.

In a statement, the Pepas family said it was familiar with the statement of Hamas.

“In the past few hours, we were in a state of turmoil after Hamas spokesperson announced about the planned return of Sherry, Ariel, and KFIR this Thursday as part of the hostage launch phase,” the statement said.

“We want to make it clear that while we realize these reports, we have not yet received any official confirmation on this issue.

“Until we receive a final confirmation, our journey has not ended.

Hamas also appointed two of the six Israelis who will be released on Saturday.

They are Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, which were seized in 2014 and 2015, respectively, after they crossed to Gaza on their own. The Israeli government alike has suffered mental health issues at that time.

According to the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas agreed to launch 33 hostages. On the other hand, Israel agreed to release about 1900 Palestinian prisoners.

The talks about the progress of the second stage of the deal – according to which the remaining hostages will be released and the war will end permanently – is scheduled to start earlier this month but not starting.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon said that the talks will start “this week.”

He said that Israel “will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza,” but he said that Israel could extend the ceasefire if the discussions are fruitful.

“If we will see that there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon to reach an agreement (then), we will make this time frame for a longer period.”

There is currently a total of 73 hostages in Gaza – a mixture of Israeli soldiers and civilians alive. This also includes Thai and Nepalese citizens.

About 251 hostages were taken by Hamas when Israel attacked October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people.

Israel responded with a 15 -month military attack that killed 4,7,460 Palestinians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza, and destroyed the coastal pocket.