After the release of six living hostages on Saturday, only four of the 33 hostages set to be freed during the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain in captivity in Gaza, with it being widely believed that they are dead.

The four are Ohad Yahalomi; Tsahi Idan; Itzik Elgarat; and Shlomo Mantzur, 85. All four were kidnapped during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel.

The four are set to be released on Thursday, according to the agreement mediated between Israel and Hamas by Qatar and the US.

According to Hamas’s past statements, the six hostages released on Saturday were the last to be returned under the first phase of the ceasefire deal who are alive, leading to the conclusion that the remaining four are dead. Israel has indicted that its own information matches the Hamas claims.

Israeli authorities announced earlier this month that Mantzur was killed on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza.

Yahalomi, 49 at the time of his kidnapping, was taken captive by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz after he engaged in a gun battle with gunmen in his house and was shot in the leg.

As the door handle to the family’s safe room was not locking properly, Ohad decided to protect his wife and children by sitting outside the door with a handgun.

After he was shot, the gunmen hurried wife Batsheva and their three children out of the house and onto mopeds, along with a foreign worker from the kibbutz.

Ohad told his family that he loved them, and to go with the terrorists.

Batsheva, 10-year-old Yael and the almost two-year-old toddler sat on one moped with........

© The Times of Israel