Hamas announced Tuesday that it will return the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the youngest captives taken by the group. The transfer is set for Thursday.
Additionally, Hamas stated that it will release six living hostages on Saturday, doubling the originally expected number. Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the group’s negotiating team, confirmed the details in a statement.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that an agreement was reached in Cairo, where negotiations have been ongoing. According to the office, four deceased hostages will be handed over Thursday, and six living captives will be released Saturday. Israel also expects Hamas to return four more deceased hostages next week.
A representative for the Israeli Hostage Families Forum confirmed that all affected families have been notified. As in previous exchanges, Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners in return.
The announcement marks the most definitive indication yet that Kfir and Ariel Bibas—who were just nine months and four years old when they were kidnapped in October 2023—are dead. Israel has not officially confirmed their deaths and has not yet responded to Hamas’ statement.
An Egyptian source familiar with the talks confirmed that negotiations involving officials from Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the United States had successfully secured the hostages’ release. This agreement concludes the first phase of a truce deal.
Hamas previously claimed in November 2023 that Kfir and Ariel were killed along with their mother in an Israeli airstrike, releasing a video of their father, Yarden Bibas—who was also taken hostage—blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their deaths.
At the time, an Israeli military spokesperson dismissed the video as “psychological warfare” but later told the Bibas family that the children might not have survived. Yarden Bibas was released alive on February 1.
The Bibas family, particularly Kfir, has become a symbol of the October 7 terror attacks, drawing widespread attention both in Israel and internationally.
