Hamas To Hand Over Four Remaining Hostage Bodies From First Phase Of Ceasefire Agreement

Hamas revealed the names of the final four hostages set to be released from Gaza this week under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. According to the terror group, all four hostages are deceased. 

The hostages include Tsahi Idan, 49, Ohad Yahalomi, 49, Itzik Elgarat, 68, and Shlomo Mantzur, 85.

Hamas claimed the bodies will be handed over on Thursday, but an unnamed Israeli official said the handover will likely happen Wednesday night, the Times of Israel reported.

In exchange for the hostages, Israel agreed to free 602 Palestinian prisoners whose release had been delayed after Hamas paraded the bodies of three Israeli hostages on a stage and presented a casket they claimed contained the remains of hostage Shiri Bibas, but in reality had the remains of an unidentified Gazan woman. Hamas returned Bibas’s remains over the weekend.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called Hamas’s actions a violation of the agreement.

“An agreement was reached to solve the problem of the occupation delaying the release of the prisoners who should have been released in the last batch, provided that they are released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners agreed to be handed over, in addition to the corresponding number of Palestinian women and children,” Hamas said in a statement.

Israel requested that the bodies be transferred to the Red Cross through Egypt in an effort to prevent Hamas from staging another public propaganda spectacle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari newspaper, reported Tuesday night.

So far, 29 of 33 hostages have been released in the first phase of the ceasefire, along with five Thai hostages who were released as part of a separate deal. Sixty-one hostages remain in captivity. The fate of those not slated for the first phase will be negotiated in later phases.

On October 7, Idan, whose family is from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, took shelter in their safe room where Idan tried to hold the door shut as terrorists stormed their home.

Maayan, 18, was shot and killed in front of her parents, Tsachi and Gali, and her younger siblings, 11-year-old Yael and nine-year-old Shahar. The family was then forced outside at gunpoint as the parents tried to shield their children. The terrorists accessed Gali’s Facebook account and live-streamed the family as they mourned Maayan before taking Idan hostage.

Yael asked the terrorists not to take their father and kill him, according to Gali in an interview on Channel 13.

“They turned around and said, ‘He’ll be back, he’ll be back,’” said Gali. “They promised Yael that he would return.”

Yahalomi, who is a French-Israeli dual citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz after he was shot in the leg during a firefight with the terrorists who invaded his home. Yahalomi decided to fight the terrorists after the handle of the safe room’s door — where his wife and children were hiding — was not working properly.  He sat outside the room, guarding his family with a handgun.

The terrorists took his wife, Batsheva, 12-year-old son Eitan, 10-year-old daughter Yael, and their two-year-old daughter away towards Gaza on mopeds. When the terrorists encountered two Israeli tanks, they reportedly split up and Batsheva, Yael, and the two-year-old were able to flee to freedom in pajamas and flip-flops.

Eitan was freed in the November 2023 hostage deal. Batsheva says Eitan was beaten by Gazan civilians and held in a cell alone for 16 days. Terrorists reportedly forced him to watch films of October 7 and threatened him with a gun when he cried.

Elgarat, a Danish-Israeli dual citizen, was shot by terrorists through the door of his safe room before being taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Elgarat was on the phone with his brother Danny during the ordeal, shouting “Danny, this is the end, this is the end” before the call went dead. An hour later, at 12:10, Danny saw that his brother’s phone was in Gaza.

Hostages released in the 2023 ceasefire said that Elgarat had been treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. 

When it was announced that Elgarat would be released in the first phase, Danny said he believed his brother was dead and urged living hostages to be prioritized. 

“Leave the bodies there; bring back living people. My brother is there as a fallen soldier, and I am saying on my behalf that I am willing to leave him there for now if it means bringing back someone alive,” Danny said.

Mantzur is the oldest hostage still in Gaza. He was killed on October 7 and had his body taken captive by terrorists from Kibbutz Kissufim and driven to Gaza in his own car, according to the IDF. Before being taken, Mantzur was tied up with his wife, Mazal, who was able to escape to a neighbor’s home.

Mantzur, who was born in Iraq, survived the persecution of Jews in the Farhud pogrom in Baghdad in 1941, where more than 180 Jews were killed, 1,000 were injured, and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.

Mantzur helped found Kibbutz Kissufim, where he managed the chicken coup and worked in an eyewear factory. Members of the community described him as the “beating heart” of Kissufim. Mazal and Mantzur’s 60th wedding anniversary was on March 1, 2024.

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Hamas revealed the names of the final four hostages set to be released from Gaza this week under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. According to the terror group, all four hostages are deceased. 

The hostages include Tsahi Idan, 49, Ohad Yahalomi, 49, Itzik Elgarat, 68, and Shlomo Mantzur, 85.

Hamas claimed the bodies will be handed over on Thursday, but an unnamed Israeli official said the handover will likely happen Wednesday night, the Times of Israel reported.

In exchange for the hostages, Israel agreed to free 602 Palestinian prisoners whose release had been delayed after Hamas paraded the bodies of three Israeli hostages on a stage and presented a casket they claimed contained the remains of hostage Shiri Bibas, but in reality had the remains of an unidentified Gazan woman. Hamas returned Bibas’s remains over the weekend.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called Hamas’s actions a violation of the agreement.

“An agreement was reached to solve the problem of the occupation delaying the release of the prisoners who should have been released in the last batch, provided that they are released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners agreed to be handed over, in addition to the corresponding number of Palestinian women and children,” Hamas said in a statement.

Israel requested that the bodies be transferred to the Red Cross through Egypt in an effort to prevent Hamas from staging another public propaganda spectacle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari newspaper, reported Tuesday night.

So far, 29 of 33 hostages have been released in the first phase of the ceasefire, along with five Thai hostages who were released as part of a separate deal. Sixty-one hostages remain in captivity. The fate of those not slated for the first phase will be negotiated in later phases.

On October 7, Idan, whose family is from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, took shelter in their safe room where Idan tried to hold the door shut as terrorists stormed their home.

Maayan, 18, was shot and killed in front of her parents, Tsachi and Gali, and her younger siblings, 11-year-old Yael and nine-year-old Shahar. The family was then forced outside at gunpoint as the parents tried to shield their children. The terrorists accessed Gali’s Facebook account and live-streamed the family as they mourned Maayan before taking Idan hostage.

Yael asked the terrorists not to take their father and kill him, according to Gali in an interview on Channel 13.

“They turned around and said, ‘He’ll be back, he’ll be back,’” said Gali. “They promised Yael that he would return.”

Yahalomi, who is a French-Israeli dual citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz after he was shot in the leg during a firefight with the terrorists who invaded his home. Yahalomi decided to fight the terrorists after the handle of the safe room’s door — where his wife and children were hiding — was not working properly.  He sat outside the room, guarding his family with a handgun.

The terrorists took his wife, Batsheva, 12-year-old son Eitan, 10-year-old daughter Yael, and their two-year-old daughter away towards Gaza on mopeds. When the terrorists encountered two Israeli tanks, they reportedly split up and Batsheva, Yael, and the two-year-old were able to flee to freedom in pajamas and flip-flops.

Eitan was freed in the November 2023 hostage deal. Batsheva says Eitan was beaten by Gazan civilians and held in a cell alone for 16 days. Terrorists reportedly forced him to watch films of October 7 and threatened him with a gun when he cried.

Elgarat, a Danish-Israeli dual citizen, was shot by terrorists through the door of his safe room before being taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Elgarat was on the phone with his brother Danny during the ordeal, shouting “Danny, this is the end, this is the end” before the call went dead. An hour later, at 12:10, Danny saw that his brother’s phone was in Gaza.

Hostages released in the 2023 ceasefire said that Elgarat had been treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. 

When it was announced that Elgarat would be released in the first phase, Danny said he believed his brother was dead and urged living hostages to be prioritized. 

“Leave the bodies there; bring back living people. My brother is there as a fallen soldier, and I am saying on my behalf that I am willing to leave him there for now if it means bringing back someone alive,” Danny said.

Mantzur is the oldest hostage still in Gaza. He was killed on October 7 and had his body taken captive by terrorists from Kibbutz Kissufim and driven to Gaza in his own car, according to the IDF. Before being taken, Mantzur was tied up with his wife, Mazal, who was able to escape to a neighbor’s home.

Mantzur, who was born in Iraq, survived the persecution of Jews in the Farhud pogrom in Baghdad in 1941, where more than 180 Jews were killed, 1,000 were injured, and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.

Mantzur helped found Kibbutz Kissufim, where he managed the chicken coup and worked in an eyewear factory. Members of the community described him as the “beating heart” of Kissufim. Mazal and Mantzur’s 60th wedding anniversary was on March 1, 2024.

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