Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages Thursday, with a convoy of Red Cross vehicles taking their coffins away from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Hundreds of people gathered at the handover site where militants had the black coffins displayed on a stage featuring flags and banners.

One banner accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a war criminal and said Israeli airstrikes killed the hostages.

Those released Thursday included the youngest captives – infant Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old when he was kidnapped, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel Bibas – and their mother, Shiri Bibas.

They were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Video of the abduction showed Shiri Bibas swaddling the boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men.

The boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, according to Hamas. Their father, Yarden Bibas, was kidnapped separately and returned alive earlier this month.

The body of fellow Nir Oz resident Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted from his home, was also released.

Netanyahu said Thursday would be "a day of grief" for his nation.

"We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages, deceased," Netanyahu said Wednesday. "We embrace the families, and the heart of the entire nation is torn. My own heart is torn. So is yours. And all of the world's heart should be torn, because this demonstrates who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with — with such monsters."

Israel’s military planned to hold a ceremony for the hostages immediately after their bodies are transferred from the Red Cross. They will be moved to coffins covered by the Israeli flag. Soldiers will salute, a rabbi will read from Psalms, and the coffins will be carried to military vehicles.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum invited the public to hold Israeli flags and stand along the military convoy’s route to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir, Tel-Aviv, where the bodies will undergo an identification process.

On Saturday, six living hostages are set to be released in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.

Israel and Hamas are in the process of implementing the first phase of a ceasefire that began on Jan. 19. Talks on the second phase are scheduled to begin this week, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse that the remaining hostages may be released together during the next phase of the truce.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told the news agency.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held in Gaza.

Hamas is believed to be holding about 70 more captives, half of them living. So far during the ceasefire, Hamas has released 24 hostages, and Israel has freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting halt to the fighting and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has not backed off its goal, supported by the United States, of eradicating any military or governing role for Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group, killed about 1,200 people in the October 2023 attack and took about 250 as hostages. More than half of the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals, while eight were rescued in military operations.

Israel's air and ground war killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says the death toll includes 17,000 militants. The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced most of its population of 2.3 million.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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