"Israel has received coffins with four fallen hostages via the Red Cross", says the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
Experts have begun the process of formally identifying the bodies, remains of four of the hundreds of hostages taken in Israel and brought to Gaza during Hamas' terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
At around the same time as the four bodies were released on Wednesday evening, a Red Cross convoy with dozens of freed Palestinians left Ofer prison, on the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Jubilant crowds gathered in nearby Beitunia to celebrate and many tried to catch a glimpse of the bus as it drove by. Later, the convoy was met by further joyful crowds in the city of Ramallah.
Several of the freed were lifted into the air by relatives and family members, while others sat on friends' or relatives' shoulders for interviews before being taken for a health check.
They were supposed to have been released already last weekend, but Israel stopped the process after accusing Hamas of staging propaganda scenes of the return of the hostages.
When the remains of four hostages were to be handed over last week, it also turned out that one of the bodies was not the woman Hamas claimed it was. Israel responded by continuing to hold 600 Palestinians, who were then supposed to be released, in prison.
It is unclear exactly how many of them have been released so far.
