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Hamas was set to hand over the bod­ies of four hostages late Wednes­day in ex­change for Is­rael’s re­lease of hun­dreds of Pales­tin­ian pris­on­ers, days be­fore the first phase of their cease­fire will end.

Is­rael has de­layed the re­lease of over 600 Pales­tin­ian pris­on­ers since Sat­ur­day to protest what it called the cru­el treat­ment of hostages dur­ing their han­dover by Hamas. The mil­i­tant group has called the de­lay a “se­ri­ous vi­o­la­tion” of the cease­fire and said talks on a sec­ond phase aren’t pos­si­ble un­til the Pales­tini­ans are freed.

Plans for Wednes­day’s re­lease of the hostage bod­ies were con­firmed by Is­rael’s gov­ern­ment and Hamas’s mil­i­tary wing in a state­ment by spokesman Abu Obei­da.