Six Israeli captives to be exchanged for 602 Palestinian today

Israel on Saturday prepared to receive six more hostages from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees this week.

According to Hamas officials, the hostages will be freed around 8.30 a.m. (0630 GMT).

Four of the hostages, Eliya Cohen, 27, Tal Shoham, 40, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were seized by Hamas gunmen in 2023.

Another two, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39, have been held by the Palestinian group since they entered Gaza separately.

In return, Israel is expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails in the latest stage of an exchange.

Late on Thursday, Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by handing over an unidentified body instead of the remains of hostage Shiri Bibas that were due to be returned along with the bodies of her two small sons.

Hamas said her remains appear to have been mixed up with other human remains recovered from the rubble after an Israeli air strike that it said killed her and her two sons in November 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to make Hamas “pay the full price” for failing to return the body but he held back from walking away from the ceasefire agreement.

The Israeli campaign killed at least 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving some hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid trucks.