ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Officials of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday that the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages will be exchanged for over 600 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday as part of the fragile Gaza truce.
"Mediators have informed Hamas that the [hostage-prisoner] exchange will take place on Thursday,” a Hamas official told AFP.
The official added that they would "hand over four bodies of Israeli captives, and in return, Israel will release more than 600 Palestinian detainees.”
Another senior Hamas official said the "exchange will happen simultaneously.”
The development comes as the US said earlier that talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal were on track.
The ceasefire that brought the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack to a stop despite its fragility, has so far led to the release of 25 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
"We're making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak," Steve Witkoff told an event for the American Jewish Committee, US President Donald Trump's top envoy on the Middle East said of talks on the second phase of the ceasefire deal.
"It's either going to be in Doha or in Cairo, where negotiations will begin again with the Egyptians and the Qataris," he said.
Phase one of the truce is set to end on Saturday. Phase two of the truce, which was to begin in early February, aims to establish a more permanent agreement and secure the release of the remaining hostages and prisoners.
Hamas has said it is ready to release "in one go" all the hostages remaining during the second phase.
Hamas on Sunday accused Israel of endangering the Gaza truce by delaying the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justifying the delay by citing concerns over the "humiliating” release of the hostages.
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