Hamas says ready for more ceasefire talks after prisoner exchange
Exchange of bodies for prisoners took place before the first phase of Gaza ceasefire was due to end
Militant group Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to begin talks on the second phase of a ceasefire in Gaza after several hundred Palestinians were released from Israeli jails overnight in return for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.
It was the final exchange of the six-week first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza that came into effect on January 19.
Israel said on Thursday morning that three of the hostages whose bodies it had received overnight had been murdered in captivity and the fourth had been killed on the day of the October 2023 Hamas raid into Israel that precipitated the war.
There was no immediate response from Hamas to the allegation the hostages had been killed in captivity. The group has previously denied killing hostages and said some had died as a result of Israeli bombardment.
Talks have yet to begin on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lead ultimately to a permanent end to the war which has destroyed much of the enclave.