The Palestinian Hamas movement said today that it had accepted a mediator's proposal to release one living American-Israeli hostage and hand over the bodies of four dual-national hostages who died in captivity in Gaza.
Hamas did not immediately announce when the release of soldier Adan Alexander and the handover of the four bodies would take place.
The announcement comes as talks continue in Doha to try to broker the next phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. The first phase, which began on January 19, ended two weeks ago.
In a separate statement, Hamas official Hudam Badram reaffirmed what he said was Hamas's commitment to the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement in all its phases, warning that any Israeli deviation from the terms of the agreement would return the negotiations to the starting point.
Israel is pressuring militant Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas wants to negotiate a second, more difficult phase, during which the remaining hostages held in Gaza should be released, Israeli forces should withdraw completely, and a lasting peace should be agreed upon.
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