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  • 2/26/2025

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Transcript
00:00Israelis are waiting anxiously for the expected release of the bodies of four
00:04hostages by Hamas later tonight. The remains of the abductees are being
00:09handed over in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners by
00:14Israel. The swap marks a breakthrough between the two sides after Israel
00:18had delayed the planned Saturday release of around 600 detainees in protest of
00:23what it says is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas.
00:28Well let's speak to France 24's correspondent Noga Tanapolsky who's in
00:32Jerusalem for us. So Noga this release is expected to happen in just under two
00:37hours time. What have you been hearing? Well we've been hearing different times
00:43but it's likely to happen around midnight Israel time which is in about
00:48three hours. We think as we've already learned these releases are fluid
00:54because of the whole spectacle made around the bodies of the Bebas family
01:00who were buried today but released last week. This time around Israeli families
01:05are not really accepting that their hostages are coming back dead until
01:11there's confirmation from the Israeli Forensic Institute. There's a lot of
01:15concern about who knows which bodies are going to be coming over and Israel is
01:21expected to release 613 Palestinian prisoners and detainees at about the
01:29time that those coffins will cross over this time apparently with no ceremony in
01:35the middle of the night to Egyptian hands not to the Red Cross and Egypt
01:41will then transmit the bodies to Israel. And Noga as you mentioned there this
01:45exchange is coming on the heels of the funeral of Shari Bebas and her two sons
01:51earlier today. Tell us more. Well it's really one of the I would say one of the
01:58heaviest days in this entire five-week process of hostage release. What
02:04was supposed to be phase one of a deal we don't really know what may come with
02:09phase two and that was also heavy on the crowd today. Most of the mourners of the
02:14Bebas family those who knew them also know others who remain hostages from
02:20those communities in southern Israel. So there's an enormous amount of sadness an
02:25enormous amount of anxiety and then listening to the words of the children's
02:30aunt Yarden Bebas's sister Ofri Bebas Levy an enormous amount of anger. A majority
02:38of Israelis believe that many of the dead hostages returning now in coffins
02:44could have been saved. What Ofri Bebas said is we could have saved you but they chose
02:50revenge instead. Stark words there Noga. Thanks so much for bringing us up to
02:55speed there Noga Tanepolsky reporting live from Jerusalem.

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