Hamas proposes one-time release of phase two hostages as talks set to begin

The Prime Minister's Office confirmed on Tuesday Hamas will release six hostages on Saturday after the terror group said it will also transfer the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza to Israel on Thursday.

Hamas is still holding six living hostages who are supposed to be released in the first phase. Their families have now been informed they will be released on Saturday, KAN reported.

Families of the kidnapped were informed of the release of the six living hostages on Saturday.

The reason for this was Hamas's interest in advancing the release of Palestinian prisoners who had been released in the 2011 deal that saw the release of Gilad Schalit and were since imprisoned again, according to the source. 

In addition, if this were to happen, Israel would allow caravans and heavy machinery to enter Gaza.

The Nukhba terrorists who raided the Nova Music Festival near Re'im on the morning of the October 7 massacre intended to reach Netivot but made a mistake in their navigation, according to Israel's public broadcaster KAN on Monday, releasing details of the IDF probe into the October 7 events. 

Israel will begin negotiations on the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, including an exchange of Israeli hostages with Palestinian prisoners, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Tuesday, adding that Israel demanded a complete demilitarization of the enclave.

There is a chance that six hostages who were slated for release in the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal could be released on Saturday, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. 

The IDF will act forcefully against any Hezbollah violation of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday following the military's withdrawal from southern Lebanon. 

US President Donald Trump shared a video of released hostage, Agam Berger, on his Truth Social app on Tuesday.

The meeting of the security cabinet on Monday ended with no vote or decision regarding the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal. 

Hostages’ family members and their supporters marked 500 days since the October 7 massacre on Monday at more than 500 locations throughout the country.

There were large protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, including at the Knesset, as freed hostages called for a completion of a deal to release the remaining hostages.

Seventy-three hostages remain in Hamas captivity. Last week, Hamas threatened to stop the releases, and talks on phase two of the deal were delayed.

Freed hostages have been shedding light on the horrid conditions they lived in during their captivity, as well as indications of life from other hostages.

Freed hostage Liri Albag said in an Instagram post on Monday: “500 days where the hostages have no one to ask for help, there is no one hearing their cries. They need one thing: To come home.” She called on the nation to keep fighting to return all those still held captive.

Israelis watch the release of three hostages from Hamas captivity as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas, at Hostage square in Tel Aviv, February 15, 2025 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The World Bank will release an assessment of damages to infrastructure in Gaza in the coming days, along with an updated assessment of damages in Ukraine on February 25, Anna Bjerde, the bank's managing director of operations, said on Monday.

Bjerde said the Gaza report, prepared together with the United Nations and European Union, would provide a fuller overview of damage to the Palestinian enclave after an interim report in April showed it suffered $18.5 billion in damages to critical infrastructure in the first four months of the war.

The IDF has begun to withdraw from southern Lebanon on Tuesday, but it will have around three times as many troops on the defense line of the border compared to before the war.

The military will maintain five outposts within southern Lebanon near the border, each manned by a company of troops, for an indefinite period of time.

Companies often range from 100-150 soldiers, but this is just a small part of the larger forces, which likely will number several thousand, if not 10,000-15,000, depending on various circumstances.

The five outposts were not formally part of the November 27 ceasefire deal. However, Israel convinced the US that the Lebanese Army is not effective enough – at present – to keep Hezbollah from entrenching in southern Lebanon and potentially trying to attack.

A map shows the location of five outposts in southern Lebanon the IDF intends to remain in (credit: GOOGLE MAPS/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Under the ceasefire terms, the Lebanese Army was supposed to take over all potential Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, confiscate Hezbollah weapons, and prevent the terror group from sending fighters back into the area.

Lebanese Armed Forces improving 

The IDF said on Monday that the Lebanese Army is doing better than ever before and is surprisingly confronting Hezbollah in some instances, but its performance is still far below where it would need to be to allow the military to withdraw the rest of its forces from southern Lebanon.

IDF sources suggested that a period of two to eight months for the outposts was easily imaginable and that the military could stay there much longer if needed for security reasons.

The five outposts will be located on the Lebanese side of the border, running from west to east near: 1) Labbouneh (near Shlomi on the Israeli side); 2) Ramyeh/Jabal Blat (Shtula); 3) Blida, Bint Jbeil, and Maroun El Ras (Avivim); 4) Wadi Saluki (Margaliot); and 5) Al-Khiyam, Kfar Kila, Ayoun Valley, and Aamra (Metulla).

According to the IDF, there is hope that despite threats from Hezbollah to treat the five outposts as a continued occupation and basis for conflict, they have been limited enough to reduce friction with the broader Lebanese public.

Further, the IDF said it would be crucial to maintain an aggressive posture toward attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon any time it tries to sneak forces into southern Lebanon or smuggle powerful weapons into any part of Lebanese territory.

Military sources acknowledged that it would not be possible to completely prevent every single Hezbollah fighter from returning to southern Lebanon since many of them can return under the guise of being civilian villagers who live there.

However, the IDF said it had enhanced its intelligence collection capabilities to try to better distinguish between legitimate innocent Lebanese villagers and Hezbollah fighters and would work hard on the issue.

In addition, the IDF said that while it would not rely solely on the Lebanese Army and American advisers helping that army, the mechanism for reporting Hezbollah violations, with direct US oversight, was often working.

Also, the IDF said that since the September 30 invasion, it had succeeded in mostly clearing the five-to-six-kilometer area of southern Lebanon near the border of Hezbollah weapons.

The IDF said it hoped many northern residents would return to their homes as of March 2, given improvements for defending them as well as progress in some areas in rebuilding infrastructure and houses destroyed by around 14 months of Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.

Military sources said the buffer zone in Syria is also reaping rewards in protecting Israel, and the military is working with local villagers so they will not only not feel oppressed by the IDF presence but will even feel some benefits.