Displaced Palestinians, traveling in vehicles, wait to cross through a security checkpoint at the Netzarim corridor as they make their way from central Gaza to the northern Gaza Strip. AP
The six are the last living captives set to be freed during the ceasefire’s first phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Thirty-three Israeli captives were due for release under the first phase of the fragile Gaza truce that took effect last month, with 19 freed so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
Of the remaining 14, Israel says eight are dead.
Hamas "decided to release on Saturday, February 22, the remaining living (Israeli) prisoners whose release was agreed in the first phase, numbering six", the group's top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised address.
The group also "decided to hand over four bodies on Thursday, among them (those of) the Bibas family", Hayya said, referring to two young Israeli boys and their mother.
Israel has not confirmed the Bibas family deaths, and the prime minister's office urged the public not to distribute “photos, names and rumors” after the announcement by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office subsequently confirmed that during indirect negotiations in Cairo, "agreements were reached" for the six living captives to be handed over on Saturday, in addition to four bodies on Thursday and four more next week.
The bodies due to be handed over on Thursday are the first to be returned to Israel by Hamas since the war began.
Israel is expected to continue releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks, in exchange for the captives. Others were detained without charge. During the first phase, Israel is also due to release all women and children seized from Gaza since the war began.
Hamas and Israel have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more captives in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
The ceasefire's current phase runs until the beginning of March Talks on the second phase were to start early this month.
Equipment allowed in
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to allow long-requested mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza as part of efforts to accelerate the captives' release.
Hamas last week threatened to hold up releases, citing the refusal to allow in mobile homes and heavy equipment among other violations of the truce.
Israel began allowing entry of rubble-removing equipment Tuesday, according to an Associated Press journalist in southern Gaza and Egypt’s media.
The AP journalist saw two bulldozers clearing rubble in an area near the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.
An Egyptian driver told AP that dozens of bulldozers and tractors were at another crossing, awaiting Israeli permission to enter.
Rebuilding Gaza could cost $53.2 billion, according to a report released Tuesday by the World Bank, the U.N. and the European Union. The report identified almost $30 billion in damage from the war, nearly half reflecting the destruction of homes.
Palestinians want to stay in their homeland
The ceasefire that began in mid-January has held despite Israeli violations and despite the strain placed on it by US President Donald Trump's widely condemned plan to take control of devastated Gaza and relocate its population. Egypt is working on a counter-plan to rebuild without displacing Palestinians.
“We will not leave our country, no matter what happens,” Muhammad Shaaban, a resident of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, told the AP. The area was hit by some of the fiercest bombardments of the war and most of its buildings and infrastructure was destroyed or damaged.
Mohammad Bahjat, also from Jabaliya, said Trump’s proposal is “unacceptable” and that he and his family would resist being expelled.
Israel has embraced the plan, and it and the Trump administration have emphasized they share the same goals in the war.
Saudi Arabia is set to host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Friday to present their own plan for Gaza's reconstruction while ensuring that Palestinians remain on their land.
Trump floated Egypt and Jordan as possible destinations for displaced Gazans, but both countries rejected the idea.
After the Saudi meeting, Egypt will host an extraordinary Arab League meeting on Gaza on March 4.
For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass exile of their ancestors during the 1948 war.
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