The Israeli army said in a statement: "IDF forces and the Shin Bet (General Security Service) are escorting four coffins with bodies on their way to the country, and from there they will be transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (in Tel Aviv) for identification.
This came about an hour after Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee announced, in two separate statements, that the Red Cross had received the bodies of four Israeli prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Monday, the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced in a statement that "the bodies are those of the following Zionist prisoners: Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bevin Joshi, and Daniel Peres."
The Qassam Brigades did not provide further details regarding the handover of the remains of the 28 Israeli prisoners, four of whom have already been handed over, leaving 24 remaining, according to Tel Aviv's estimates.
Commenting on this, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz claimed that Hamas' announcement that it would hand over the remains of four prisoners today constituted a "breach of its obligations."
He added via his X account that "any delay or deliberate omission will be considered a flagrant violation of the agreement and will be responded to."
Two days ago, the official Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that the whereabouts of some of the bodies of Israeli prisoners remained unknown. The Gaza Agreement document, previously published by the Authority, stipulated that Hamas would hand over all information it possesses regarding the Israeli dead to a joint mechanism to be established with the participation of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In a related context, Maariv newspaper reported that preliminary tests conducted on the living Israeli prisoners released as part of the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas indicate that "their condition is stable."
She added, "The prisoners lost between 20 and 40 percent of their weight, but all are in stable condition," explaining that "this weight loss is due to the severe hunger the prisoners suffered during their captivity in the Gaza Strip."
Over the course of two years, Israel's starvation policy against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has resulted in the deaths of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
On October 9, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his ceasefire and prisoner exchange plan. This agreement followed indirect negotiations between the two sides in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the participation of Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar, and under US supervision.
In accordance with the agreement, Hamas completed the release of the 20 living Israeli prisoners from Gaza on Monday. Tel Aviv estimates that the bodies of 28 other prisoners are still being held, four of whom Israel has received.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said in a joint statement that Israel released 1,968 prisoners today, including 250 life-sentenced prisoners and 1,718 Gaza prisoners arrested after the war.
This comes amid Palestinian accusations that Tel Aviv is manipulating the lists of prisoners.
Negotiations on the second phase of the agreement are scheduled to begin in a few days, with Hamas insisting on a complete end to the war of extermination, a complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces, and not relinquishing its "weapons of resistance" to the occupation.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023, leaving 67,869 martyrs and 170,105 wounded, most of them children and women, and causing a famine that claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.
