CAIRO — A senior Hamas official has indicated that the organization plans to free six living Israeli hostages this Saturday.
These individuals represent the final group of living hostages who will be released in the initial stage of the ongoing ceasefire arrangement in the Gaza Strip.
Initially, there were expectations for three hostages to be released on that day.
The conflicting parties are still in the early stages of negotiating the next phase, which proves to be more complex.
In this subsequent phase, Hamas aims to release a larger number of hostages in exchange for a more permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
This announcement was made by Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya during a recorded message shared on Tuesday.
The ongoing hostages’ releases have occurred in conjunction with the exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who are currently detained by Israel.