Hamas says ready to free all hostages at once in Gaza truce phase two

Hamas signalled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war."We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other militant groups.Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released by militants so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains."We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had filed charges of "causing severe injury and abuse under aggravating circumstances" against five reservist soldiers for assaulting a Palestinian detainee in July last year."The indictment charges the accused with acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee's bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee's rectum," a military statement said, adding the alleged abuse also caused cracked ribs and a punctured lung.It said the incident took place at the Sde Teiman detention facility following an instruction to conduct a search of the detainee during which he was "blindfolded, and cuffed at the hands and ankles".The detention centre near the border was created early in the war to hold detainees from Gaza.