As a body turned over by Hamas hours earlier was verified to be that of captive Shiri Bibas, Israel was ready to accept six more hostages from Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners on Saturday.
The misidentification of a body revealed Thursday as that of Bibas, who was abducted along with her husband and two young sons in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, had threatened to shatter the already precarious truce in the war between Israel and Hamas militants. However, her family said that another body that Hamas turned up late Friday was verified to be hers.
According to Hamas authorities, the six who will be released on Saturday are the final surviving hostages of a group of 33 who are scheduled to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement reached last month. They were supposed to be turned over at approximately 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT).
Hamas terrorists captured four of the captives during their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel: Omer Shem Tov, 22, Tal Shoham, 40, Eliya Cohen, 27, and Omer Wenkert, 23. Since they entered Gaza independently under mysterious circumstances almost ten years ago, Hamas has detained two more, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39.
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