Israel to free 600 terrorists initially held back for four slain hostages

Israel is set to receive the final four slain hostages from the first phase of the hostage deal, in exchange for the 600 Palestinian terrorists who were held back on Saturday, in the next 24 hours, according to a report today (Monday) by Amit Segal.

According to Segal, two slain hostages will be delivered in the next 24 hours in exchange for 301 terrorists, half the number being detained. Then the next two will be released in exchange for the remainder of the terrorists. The slain hostages will be sent to Egypt and from there to Israel.

This compromise comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to delay the release of over 600 Palestinian imprisoned terrorists, who were supposed to be exchanged for the six released hostages on Saturday.

Netanyahu and the government decided to delay their release due to Hamas' failure to release slain hostage Shiri Bibas, replacing her with an anonymous female Gazan who was killed in an IDF strike, as well as the decision to host a "degrading" ceremony for the deceased Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz before handing them over to Israel.

Hamas initially refused to continue the deal following this delay, even protesting that the ceremonies showing live hostages being forced to kiss their kidnappers and showing coffins of released slain hostages with their "date of arrest" on them were not humiliating but rather "humane."

Despite this initial impasse, heavy pressure from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators led to a shift in the Hamas stance, and an agreement to complete the exchanges agreed to in the first phase of the deal.

Segal reports that Hamas appears interested in continuing the exchanges of the first deal, though the conditions for doing so remain unclear. It is also unclear whether Israel will have to continue to withdraw IDF forces from the Gaza Strip or declare an official end to the war.