CAIRO (AP) — A top Hamas leader says the militant group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday, a surprise increase that apparently comes in return for Israel allowing mobile homes and construction equipment into the devastated Gaza Strip.
The six are the last living hostages set to be freed under the ceasefire’s first phase. The warring sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase, in which Hamas says it will release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, in prerecorded remarks, said the “Bibas family” would be included
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