Middle East latest: Hamas names 6 living hostages to be freed on Saturday

Hamas on Friday released the names of six living Israeli hostages who the militants plan to release from Gaza on Saturday. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, more than 600 Palestinians will also be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange, according to the Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoners media office.

The announcements are a sign the fragile ceasefire deal remains on track following Israeli allegations overnight that hostage body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.

The militant group insists it is sticking to the truce deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” The militant group says the four dead hostages it handed over Thursday had been in November 2023, and the bodies could have been misidentified because of bombardments in the area.

Late Friday, Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi said militants handed over Bibas’ body to the Red Cross, in remarks to Al Araby, a Qatar-based television network. The Red Cross confirmed it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a brief statement “the remains were expected to be taken to Israel’s national forensics lab for testing. It was not immediately known how long it would take to confirm identification.”

Here’s the latest:

Israeli prime minister’s office says it is not immediately known how long identification will take

Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi said militants handed over the body of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross, in remarks to Al Araby, a Qatar-based television network. The Red Cross confirmed it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities.

Earlier, a small militant group in Gaza that was believed to have hostage Bibas’ body has said it turned over her remains to the Red Cross.

Palestinian militants say they gave Israel the body of hostage Shiri Bibas

A small militant group in Gaza that’s believed to have hostage Shiri Bibas’ body said late Friday they had turned over her remains to the Red Cross.

And in a short statement, the Red Cross confirmed that they had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities. The statement did not specify whose remains were believed to be in transit.

Dr. Salem Attalah, deputy secretary general for the Palestinian Mujahedeen Brigades, said it had handed over Bibas’s remains to the Red Cross. The militant group, which collaborates with Palestinian Islamic Jihad inside Gaza, is thought to have been holding the mother and her two boys, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

Funeral of Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah brings thousands to Lebanon

was killed on Sept. 27 when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on Hezbollah’s main operations room in southern Beirut. It was the biggest and most consequential of Israel’s targeted killings in years.

Thousands of supporters have flown into Beirut for the funeral this weekend. Crowds are expected to gather Sunday at Beirut’s main sports stadium for a funeral ceremony before Nasrallah’s interment. Flights from Iraq, where Hezbollah has a huge following among Iraqi Shiites, have been full for days on end.

Nasrallah had temporarily been buried in a secret location. A in late November ended the 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, which Nasrallah launched in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas.

Israeli fire kills Palestinian boy and girl in the West Bank, health officials say

Palestinian health officials said Friday that Israeli fire killed two 13-year-old Palestinians in separate episodes in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s military expands operations there.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli fire killed a boy in the southern city of Hebron and a girl in the Jenin refugee camp.

It was not clear whether Israeli soldiers or Jewish settlers had shot the teenagers. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shootings.

The Jenin camp has been a focus of Israel’s current military operation in the West Bank, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was intensifying Friday after a series of bus explosions near Tel Aviv he deemed a militant attack.

Israel’s monthlong military operation in the West Bank, which started right after the Gaza ceasefire began, has wreaked widespread damage, killed over 50 Palestinians, caused thousands to and ripped up roads and infrastructure in refugee camps.

Since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli fire has killed over 800 Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials say. In that time, attacks on Israelis in the volatile territory have also increased.

Trump says he's ‘not forcing’ Gaza plan

U.S. President Donald Trump says he won't muscle through his plan for the United States to the Gaza Strip into a tourist destination, displacing Palestinians.

Trump said in a Fox News interview Friday he still thinks the plan is a good idea and was “a little surprised” Egypt and Jordan reacted negatively, given both receive U.S. financial assistance.

“I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” Trump said.

Trump had he wouldn’t threaten to withhold financial aid from Egypt and Jordan if they don’t agree to accept significantly more refugees from Gaza.

Netanyahu orders a troop surge in the West Bank

Visiting the restive Tulkarem refugee camp on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered troop numbers increased in the occupied West Bank and authorized new operations there in response to the a day earlier.

He said troops were entering militant strongholds, “clearing entire streets” and the homes of alleged militants.

Israel says its increased military operations are aimed at combating rising Palestinian militant attacks against Israelis. Many Palestinians say the operations only deepen resentment for Israel and prolong the cycle of bloodshed.

Saudi Arabia hosts a meeting of Arab leaders

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has held a meeting of leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Egypt and Jordan.

The meeting hosted by on Friday had been described as “an informal brotherly gathering” by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It comes ahead of an Arab League summit likely to discuss the Gaza Strip after U.S. President proposed America “take over” the territory and its Palestinian residents, a plan that Arab countries have universally .

Authorities released a single still image showing those who attended. They included Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and his son, Crown Prince Hussein, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Not in attendance from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, was Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

Israel claims Gaza militants killed young hostages ‘with their bare hands’

Israel’s military spokesperson said Friday that militants in Gaza killed two young hostages “with their bare hands,” without providing evidence for the claim, a day after the boys' remains were returned to Israel.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in a live statement, alleged that forensic analysis of the Bibas boys’ remains showed that militants “did not shoot the boys,” but “killed them with their bare hands,” adding that militants had then “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”

Hagari also said the fourth set of remains released Thursday, Oded Lifshitz, was killed by his militant captors inside Gaza.

Hamas claims Lifshitz, the boys Kfir and Ariel, and their mother Shiri were killed in an Israeli airstrike. It too has not provided evidence to support this allegation.

Hamas will be punished for returning an anonymous woman's body instead of a hostage, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Hamas would “pay the full price” for allegedly handing over the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza instead of an Israeli hostage's remains.

Hamas militants turned over four bodies on Thursday, and says the deceased hostages were killed by an Israeli airstrike that also killed their guards.

The Israeli military said it had positively identified the remains of two young hostages, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, along with Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

However, Netanyahu reiterated the Israeli claim that the fourth coffin did not contain the boys' mother, Shiri Bibas, nor any other hostage.

“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said.

“The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge,” he added.

Aunt of Bibas boys says there's been no apology from Netanyahu

The aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostages whose remains were returned to Israel on Thursday, said that Netanyahu has not apologized yet to the family after the body of the boys' mother was not among those returned.

“For Ariel and Kfir’s sake, and for Yarden’s sake, we are not seeking revenge right now. We are asking for Shiri,” said Ofri Bibas Levy, the sister of Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father, who was released alive during an earlier swap.

Israeli authorities said they had identified the remains of the two boys but that Hamas had returned the body of a Palestinian woman rather than that of the boys' mother, Shiri, as was promised.

Netanyahu in response vowed that he would “not rest” until those who killed the three were “brought to justice.”

Hostage families are terrified that the deal may not stretch into the planned second stage, under which Hamas is supposed to return the remainder of the hostages in exchange for Israel ending the war.

Hamas announces names of 6 living hostages to be freed on Saturday

Hamas has released the names of the six living hostages the militants plan to release on Saturday under the terms of the ceasefire. The Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoners media office said over 600 Palestinians are also to be freed from Israeli prisons.

The announcements are a sign the fragile deal remains on track despite the tensions following revelations overnight that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.

Hamas said it would release Omer Wenkert, 23; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Avera Mengistu, 39; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; Tal Shoham, 40, and Eliya Cohen, 27, on Saturday.

Two of the men, Mengistu and Al-Sayed, are civilians who are mentally ill and who have been held since long before the war, after entering Gaza on their own over a decade ago.

Israel confirmed receiving the list. It did not confirm the six names, which were confirmed earlier in the week by the Hostages and Missing Families forum, the group representing hostage families.

Of the Palestinian prisoners due to be released, 50 have been sentenced to life imprisonment and 60 were serving long prison sentences. Also due for release are 445 prisoners from Gaza, held by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli defense minister orders troops to ramp up operation in West Bank after bus explosions in Israel

Israel’s defense minister said Friday he has ordered the country’s military to ramp up its operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after a series of bus explosions near Tel Aviv the previous day.

Defense Minister Israel Katz called the explosions on three buses in central Israel a “terror attack.” No injuries were reported.

Visiting Tulkarem refugee camp, a militant stronghold, Katz said he had told troops to “intensify its activities” until “terrorism is defeated.”

“I want to convey a clear message from here to the terrorists and their senders: Yesterday’s serious attempted attack against a civilian population will not deter us,” he said.

On Friday, an Israeli court imposed a gag order on the reporting of any details related to the investigation or information that could reveal the identities of the suspects in Thursday's bus bombings.

A group identifying itself as a branch of Hamas’ military wing, Qassam Brigades, from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, stopped short of taking responsibility for the attack Thursday but posted on messaging app Telegram: “We will never forget to take vengeance for our martyrs as long as the occupation is on our lands.”

Under the ceasefire deal’s first phase, Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Katz on Friday warned prisoners released under the terms of the deal: “We are keeping an open eye on you and any involvement by any of you in carrying out or directing terrorism will immediately cost you the heaviest price.”