Hamas has handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages from Gaza, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Israel is currently testing DNA samples to confirm these are the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, Tsachi Idan, 50, and Itzik Elgarat, 69, all of whom were taken by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Early on Thursday, Israel began releasing over 600 Palestinian prisoners. Dozens returned to the occupied West Bank and Gaza, where they were met by jubilant crowds.

It will mark the final exchange of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is set to end on Saturday.

Israel is yet to confirm the results of DNA tests conducted on the four bodies returned as part of the exchange.

Initial tests were expected to take place near the Israel-Gaza border, with Israeli media later reporting the bodies were transported to a forensics laboratory in Tel Aviv.

This follows an incident last Thursday where Hamas mistakenly handed over the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza instead of that of Israeli Shiri Bibas, prompting anger in Israel. Hamas initially claimed it was a case of misidentification, and later handed over Bibas’ body to Israel as well.

Unlike previous exchanges, Hamas handed over the bodies privately, without any public ceremony, as demanded by Israel.

Israel had accused Hamas of conducting “humiliating” handover ceremonies, leading to a delayed release of prisoners last weekend due to the alleged mishandling of hostages at these events.

Before Wednesday’s releases, a Hamas official told the AFP news agency that the return of the four bodies would be carried out “without public presence to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay or obstruction”.

Photos from Reuters showed a bus carrying Palestinian prisoners departing from Ofer Prison in the West Bank late on Wednesday.

Later, dozens of Palestinian prisoners were seen arriving at a hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. The prisoners expected to be released include over 400 Gazans detained by Israeli forces during the war, and 50 prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails.

In addition to Ofer prison, Israel earlier stated that prisoners would also be released from Ketziot prison in southern Israel.

The Hamas-run Prisoners’ Media Office announced that a hospital in Gaza was preparing to welcome the released Palestinians.