Hamas will release the bodies of four Israeli hostages in conditions designed to avoid a televised spectacle, marking the final swap in the first phase of a ceasefire that has failed to evolve into a lasting truce.
The compromise, hammered out by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the US, appears to satisfy Israeli demands that Hamas end the forced public parading of hostages, and the coffins of the dead, for propaganda purposes.
The four bodies could be released from Gaza as early as Wednesday night, Israel’s government said. “Our four fallen hostages will be returned . . . under an agreed procedure and without Hamas ceremonies,” the prime minister’s office said.
Israel had delayed the scheduled release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday after Hamas filmed a prolonged video of five hostages who were being freed. The hostages appeared to be coerced into smiling, waving to gathered crowds, and even kissing the foreheads of their armed captors.
Hamas had simultaneously filmed two other hostages, who were not freed, watching the ceremony from a nearby vehicle and begging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a subsequent phase of the ceasefire. That phase would require the Israeli military to withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the freedom of dozens of remaining hostages.
But Netanyahu is seeking an indefinite extension to this first phase of the ceasefire rather than moving to a planned second stage designed to lay the groundwork for a more lasting settlement, several people familiar with the matter have said.
In practice, that means the ceasefire will be automatically extended on Saturday, when it was set to expire, but Hamas is not formally required to release any more hostages or bodies until it agrees a new framework.
If Hamas releases the bodies as announced, Israel will be required to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including the 602 it held back on Saturday.
That would conclude the final swaps of the first phase, in which Hamas will have released 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight, in exchange for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid, including heavy machinery to move rubble, into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Palestinian prisoners have also faced degrading conditions including physical abuse and a lack of sufficient food, according to released Palestinians and human rights groups. Several have died in Israeli custody.
Most of them were held without trial, while dozens had been convicted in Israeli military prisons for violence against Israelis.