Israel was expected to free more than 600 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages by Hamas, five days after Israel halted prisoner releases in protest over Hamas shows of force.

Hamas has handed over what it says are the bodies of four Israeli hostages from Gaza, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel is testing DNA samples to confirm they are the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, Tsachi Idan, 50, and Itzik Elgarat, 69, all of whom were taken by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Four coffins said to contain the remains of Israeli hostages have been received by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

The release came after several days of negotiations following Israel’s refusal on Saturday to exchange some Palestinian prisoners it had pledged to free.

Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages while it waited for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return, the last such exchange agreed as part of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.