Israel says 8 of 33 on Hamas list of captives to be freed are already dead

Israeli officials stated that a list provided by Hamas indicated that 8 out of the 33 hostages slated for release in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement were deceased. Government spokesman David Mencer revealed to reporters on Monday that Hamas claimed the remaining 25 were still alive. Israel had indicated overnight that they had received a list from Hamas regarding the status of the hostages.

Mencer stated that "the families have been informed of the situation of their loved ones," but he did not disclose the names of the deceased. Israeli officials indicated that the next group of hostages would be released on Thursday, followed by another group on Saturday. There are still approximately 90 hostages being held captive. Prior to this announcement, Israel believed that at least 35 hostages had already died.

After months of fruitless negotiations, a ceasefire agreement in the conflict between Israel and Hamas went into effect on January 19, ending the destructive 15-plus-month war in Gaza that was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Under the first phase of the agreement, 33 hostages held in Gaza would be released in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel. Since the start of the ceasefire, 7 Israeli women have been released, while 290 Palestinian prisoners have been freed.

Following negotiations between Hamas and Israel, two Israeli women, Aber Yehud and Agam Berger, will be released on Thursday, along with a third, unidentified hostage. Their imminent release was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. According to Israel, Aber Yehud, as a woman and civilian, was supposed to have been released during the second prisoner exchange of the ceasefire agreement last Saturday. When she did not appear, the Israeli government accused Hamas of violating the agreement and, in retaliation, blocked displaced Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement and stated that it had informed mediators that Yehud was alive and guaranteed her release. On Monday, after Hamas pledged to release Yehud and other hostages this week, the blockade was lifted. As a result, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza began returning to their destroyed homes in northern Gaza late on Monday, marking the first such movement since the start of the destructive war.

The United Nations stated that over 200,000 people were observed moving north in Gaza on Monday morning alone. According to UN data, approximately two-thirds of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged in the conflict, and about 90% of Gaza's 2.1 million residents have been displaced. The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry stated on Monday that the death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza had reached 47,317, and that this number was still rising, despite the ceasefire, as new bodies were being discovered under the rubble. The ministry stated that hospitals in the Gaza Strip had received 11 bodies in the past 24 hours, 9 of which were found after the ceasefire, and 2 were new deaths, but did not specify how the new deaths occurred. The ministry stated that the Israeli attacks had also injured at least 111,494 people. In the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, at least 1,139 people were killed in Israel and more than 200 were taken captive.