The announcement comes as talks continue in Doha to try to broker the second stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the first phase of which ended two weeks ago.
The militant group Hamas has said it has accepted a proposal from mediators to release one living American-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four dual-national hostages who died in captivity.
Hamas did not immediately specify when it would release the bodies and the hostage soldier, identified as Edan Alexander. Other countries party to the agreement did not immediately confirm the Hamas statement.
The announcement comes as talks continue in Doha to try to broker the second stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the first phase of which ended two weeks ago.
In a separate statement, Hamas official Husam Badran reaffirmed what he said was Hamas’ commitment to fully implementing the ceasefire agreement in all its phases, warning that any Israeli deviation from the terms would return negotiations to square one.
Israel is pressing the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire.
Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip.
Hamas incursion into Israel
The war in Gaza broke out on 7 October 2023, following a surprise Hamas-led attack on southern Israel which left more than 1,100 people dead and around 250 others taken hostage back to Gaza.
The subsequent Israeli military operation has devastated much of the coastal enclave. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry puts the Palestinian death toll at more than 48,000, a figure that does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The United Nations estimates that around 69% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed, including at least 245,000 homes.
After weeks of faltering negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas agreed to a three-phase ceasefire deal, the first six-week stage of which started on 19 January.
Phase one saw Hamas release 33 Israeli hostages, plus five Thai nationals outside the deal. In exchange, Israel released almost 2,000 Palestinians from prisons across Israel.
The negotiations for phase two, which was also due to run for six weeks, were supposed to start two weeks into phase one, but they remain in limbo.
