Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader, and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

The total death toll in Gaza since the war began surpassed 50,000 on Sunday, its Hamas-run health authorities said, with least 30 people killed in Khan Yunis and Rafah so far on Sunday.

Israel resumed heavy strikes on Gaza earlier this week – in effect ending the first phase of a ceasefire that lasted almost two months. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce.

Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of abandoning the original deal – mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. It envisaged the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the subsequent release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners – in addition to negotiations to end the war entirely and reconstruct Gaza.

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said Bardaweel, 66, had been praying along with his wife when an Israeli missile struck their tent.

A father of eight, Bardaweel was one of Hamas’s most prominent political figures.

Born in Khan Younis refugee camp, he was known to be close to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and is considered part of the second generation of Hamas leadership, following the movement’s founders.

He headed the political wing of Hamas’s parliamentary bloc and was re-elected to the group’s political bureau in 2021.

Following the killing of Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha during the ongoing war, Bardaweel was regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader.

The air strike that killed Bardaweel was part of one of the most intense waves of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza since the collapse of the ceasefire agreement last Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told the BBC that Israeli forces were surrounding several of the organisation’s ambulances as they attempted to reach an area hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah.

He added that several paramedics were wounded, and contact had been lost with one of the trapped teams, which has been besieged for hours.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents of the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah after the area was hit by heavy shelling and a limited ground assault.

The attack included tank fire from Israeli forces positioned along the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt, and helicopters also took part in the assault.

Alaa al-Din Sabah, a resident of the neighbourhood, said in a voice message to the BBC: “Bullets are raining down on us like it’s pouring. A woman was shot and is bleeding. Ambulances couldn’t reach her.”

“I can see one of the paramedics lying on the ground, screaming.”

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 85 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza since midnight.

This comes after more than 500 had already been killed since Tuesday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday that it had started a ground operation in northern Gaza. There had been a reprieve from large-scale military action since January, when a ceasefire began.

Gaza’s health ministry also reported that 133 people were injured in the latest attacks on Thursday.

Israel resumed attacks on Tuesday as talks to extend the ceasefire deal failed to progress, warning that they would intensify until Hamas released the remaining hostages.

Israel says Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.

IDF spokesperson Col Avichay Adraee said Hamas had fired three rockets from southern Gaza. One was intercepted, while the other two fell in an “open area”, he wrote in a post on X.

The Israeli military said earlier on Thursday that it had begun “targeted ground activities” to create what it called a “partial buffer between the north and south” of Gaza. It called the action a “limited ground operation”.

Col Adraee said forces were deployed up to the centre of a strip, known as the Netzarim Corridor, which divides northern and southern Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says at least 591 people, including more than 200 children, have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on Tuesday.

Israeli government spokesman, David Mencer, blamed Hamas for the resumption of violence, saying it had “forced this escalation, it rejected every hostage deal, including the offers mediated by the US and others”.

Meanwhile, five staff members of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa were among those killed over the “past few days”, the agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.

“They were teachers, doctors and nurses,” he added, warning that “the worst is yet to come” amid the ongoing ground invasion.

On Wednesday, the UN said that one of its workers had been killed after its compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza was damaged. While it said the circumstances remain unclear, UN Office for Project Services head Jorge Moreira said it was “not an accident” and “at least an incident”.

Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli strike, which it said injured five others. Israel’s military said it did not attack the compound but was investigating the incident.

The US – a major weapons supplier to Israel – said that it was committed to international law regarding the supply of weapons supplies.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said US President Donald Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF in the actions that they’ve taken in recent days”.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed on Thursday that a UK national had been wounded in the compound attack. It comes after a charity said one of its workers, a 51-year-old British bomb disposal expert, had been injured.

“Our priority is supporting them and their family at this time,” he told MPs.

At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Qasim Abu Sharqiya said his two-year-old son, Omar, had been born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after five years of trying.

“They bombed a tent next to us and he died,” he told AFP. “Omar is my only son, oh world, and I have no one else.”

A doctor there, Tanya Haj Hassan, told the BBC’s Newshour that she had heard of at least 76 people who “didn’t even make it into the ER” but were taken “straight to the mortuary”.

She recalled “a level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate – it felt like Armageddon”.

Thousands of Israelis joined anti-Netanyahu protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, calling for the return of the hostages.

Several arrests were made, with police in Jerusalem deploying a water cannon against demonstrators.

Elsewhere, Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Israel on Thursday, aiming for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the Iran-backed group’s military spokesperson said.

No injuries were reported and the IDF said the missile was stopped before entering Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that it had “resumed combat in full force” and any ceasefire negotiations would now take place “under fire”.

A group representing hostages’ families has accused the Israeli government of choosing “to give up the hostages” by launching new strikes.

Israel and Hamas have failed to agree how to take the ceasefire beyond the first phase, which expired on 1 March.

Hamas did not agree to a renegotiation of the ceasefire on Israel’s terms, although it offered to release a living American hostage and four hostages’ bodies as mediators tried to prolong the ceasefire.

Israel blocked all food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza at the beginning of March in order to put pressure on Hamas. It accused Hamas of commandeering the provisions as part of its strategy against Israel, though did not provide evidence for this claim.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed and 251 other taken hostage. Twenty-five Israeli and five Thai hostages were released alive during the first phase of the ceasefire.

Israel responded to the 7 October attack with a massive military offensive, which had killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, before Israel resumed its campaign, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel’s offensive has also caused huge amounts of destruction to homes and infrastructure.

Negotiators have been trying to find a way forward after the first phase of the temporary truce ended on 1 March.

The US proposed to extend the first phase until mid-April, including a further exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

But the unnamed Palestinian official said Israel and Hamas disagreed over key aspects of the deal set out by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at the indirect talks.

Israel is yet to comment, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would receive a report from Israel’s negotiating team later on Saturday.

The White House accused Hamas of making “entirely impractical” demands in its response to Witkoff’s proposal.

It would extend the ceasefire into April but delay the negotiation of a permanent end to the war.

A statement from Witkoff’s office and the US National Security Council on Friday said: “Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not.”

“Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes.”

A Hamas statement seen by the BBC said negotiations had broken down.

Netanyahu’s office had earlier said Israel accepted the US proposal.

It said Hamas remained “firm in its refusal and has not budged a millimetre,” accusing the group of “manipulation and psychological warfare”.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal involving three stages in January, after 15 months of war.

In the first stage, Hamas returned 25 living Israeli hostages, the remains of eight others, and five living Thai hostages. Israel released about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

The deal says stage two will include the remaining living hostages in Gaza exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners.

But both sides currently disagree on the number of hostages due to be released next.

They also disagree on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which the original deal states should be happening by now.

Israel resists this point, while Hamas insists it should happen.

Israel has halted all aid and electricity to Gaza, including food and fuel, saying it aims to put pressure on Hamas.

It is believed that Hamas is still holding up to 24 living hostages in Gaza and the remains of 35 others.

As indirect talks continued on Friday, the group said in a statement it was ready to release the last living Israeli-American hostage it is known to be holding.

Edan Alexander, 21 was serving as an Israeli soldier close to Gaza when he was taken.

Under the terms of the original ceasefire agreement, it was expected that he would have been among the last hostages to be released.

The group also said it would hand over the remains of four other dual nationals captured during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

It did not give further details or make clear what it would demand in return.

Witkoff dismissed the offer, saying Hamas was trying to appear flexible in public while being impractical in private.

The attacks led by Hamas on 7 October 2023 killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, with 251 taken hostage.

The assault triggered an Israeli military offensive that has since killed more than 48,520 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry which are used by the UN and others.

Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been displaced multiple times.

An estimated 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, healthcare, water, and sanitation systems have collapsed and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” Trump said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.

Hamas accused the US president of encouraging Israel to break the ceasefire deal currently in effect between the two sides.

Trump’s statement came just hours after the White House confirmed it was holding direct talks with Hamas over the remaining hostages.

Washington has until now avoided direct engagement with the group, and there is a longstanding US policy against having direct contact with entities it lists as terrorist organisations.

In his social media post, Trump said there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released, while not specifying the nature of the support he was sending Israel.

“Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” he added.

“For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance.”

He also appeared to issue a wider threat: “Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that such threats “complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation [Israel] to avoid implementing its terms”.

It’s not the first time Trump has threatened Hamas. In December, he said there would be “all hell to pay” if hostages were not released by the time he took office.

The post came after Trump met with a group of hostages in the White House who had been recently released under the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the US has been negotiating directly with Hamas to try to secure the release of the hostages.

Israel had been consulted prior to the talks, she added.

President Trump believed in doing what was in the best interest of the American people, Leavitt told reporters.

The work of the special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, work was a “good faith effort to do what’s right for the American people”, she added.

“Two direct meetings” have taken place between Hamas and a US official, “preceded by several communications”, a Palestinian source told the BBC.

News of the talks was first reported by Axios, which said the two sides were meeting in Qatar to discuss the release of US hostages as well as a wider deal to end the war.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 48,440 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel says there are still 59 hostages being held in Gaza, with up to 24 believed to be alive.

Five US citizens are among the captives. One of them, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive and the other four are presumed dead.

A former US deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East said the US needs to be “more proactive” about getting its citizens back.

Mick Mulroy, who is also an ex-CIA paramilitary officer, added that “it could complicate the Israelis’ ability to get their citizens back if not tightly coordinated”.

Israel’s prime minister’s office said in a statement it has “expressed its position” regarding the direct talks, but did not provide any further information.

According to reports, Boehler met with Hamas representatives in the Qatari capital, Doha, in recent weeks.

Hamas has had a base in Doha since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration.

The small but influential Gulf state is a key US ally in the region. It hosts a major American air base and has handled many delicate political negotiations, including with Iran, the Taliban and Russia.

Alongside the US and Egypt, Qatar has also played a major role in talks to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The first phase of the agreement ended on Saturday, but Israel is yet to move ahead with the second phase, which would have ultimately led to a permanent end to the war.

A statement by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, published early on Sunday, came minutes after phase one had ended.

Talks on the second phase of the agreement remain inconclusive.

Also on Sunday, Israel said it was stopping entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip.

According to Witkoff’s plan, half of the captives, both living and deceased, would be released on the first day, with the remainder freed if a permanent ceasefire is reached, Netanyahu’s office added.

Meanwhile, , the Israeli statement said it can resume military operations if negotiations prove to be “ineffective”.

“If Hamas changes its position, Israel will immediately enter into negotiations on all the details of the Witkoff plan,” it added.

Hamas had earlier rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase of the ceasefire during Ramadan and Passover and instead called for the second phase as originally planned.

In response to Israel’s threat of stopping of aid, Hamas said the move “is a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for its second phase”.

“Netanyahu’s decision to stop humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the agreement,” it said in a statement. “The war criminal Netanyahu is trying to impose political facts on the ground, which his fascist army failed to establish over 15 months of brutal genocide, due to the steadfastness, bravery and resistance of our people.

“He is seeking to overthrow the signed agreement in service of his narrow internal political calculations, at the expense of the occupation prisoners in Gaza and their lives.”

Netanyahu’s move has been criticised in Israel, as hundreds of Israelis demonstrated outside the homes of several government ministers on Sunday to demand the completion of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

“Israel signed an agreement that was supposed to begin negotiations for the second phase on day 16 of the first phase. However, Israel has avoided these negotiations,” Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats Party, told the Israeli media outlet Maariv.

“Those  who want to release the hostages need to understand a simple thing – we need to reach a long-term ceasefire and withdraw from most of Gaza. Netanyahu is constantly looking for ways to keep all Israeli citizens under extraordinary pressure and in a state of emergency, as it serves his political needs.”

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from southern Gaza, said Palestinians in the coastal enclave were “very stressed”.

“They feel that this ceasefire is very fragile,” she said. “There are Israeli jets and drones hovering in the sky, making Palestinians feel that at any minute, Israeli forces can target any place across the Strip.”

Stephen Zunes, the director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco, says the US has put forth a proposal that favours Israel.

“This is typical,” he told Al Jazeera from San Francisco. “Hamas and Israel will agree to something. Then Israel will try to revise it in its favour. Then the US will put forward a new proposal that is in Israel’s favour and then the US will blame Hamas for not accepting that proposal,” he said, adding that this was a pattern seen since the beginning of the war.

Zunes also said Israel’s refusal to engage in talks for a second phase is putting Hamas in a “difficult situation”.

Meanwhile, humanitarian organisations have repeatedly said the ceasefire must continue if they are to provide much-needed aid to Palestinians in the coastal enclave, which has been devastated by the war.

“The  impact of safe and sustained humanitarian access is evident,” the World Food Programme said in a post on X on Saturday. “The ceasefire must hold. There can be no going back.”

While the ceasefire has held since it began on January 19, Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) has reported more than 350 violations by Israel, including military incursions, gunfire, air raids, intensified surveillance and the obstruction of aid since the ceasefire began after nearly 15 months of the war.

According to the GMO, the Israeli army has killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians in air attacks as well as shootings since the ceasefire began.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had so far refused to accept a temporary ceasefire extension under a proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.

A Hamas spokesman called the move “cheap blackmail” and a “coup” on the ceasefire agreement and urged mediators to get Israel to resume the supply of aid.

The Palestinian group wants phase two of the deal to go ahead as originally negotiated, with the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

On Friday night, Hamas said it would not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that phase two would eventually take place.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office said: “With the end of Phase 1 of the hostage deal, and in light of Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff outline for continuing talks – to which Israel agreed – Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease.

“Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages. If Hamas continues its refusal, there will be further consequences.”

The Hamas spokesman said: “Netanyahu’s decision to stop aid going into Gaza once again shows the ugly face of the Israeli occupation… The international community must apply pressure on the Israeli government to stop starving our people.”

Late last night, Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed to a US proposal for the ceasefire to continue for about six weeks during the Muslim Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods.

If, at the end of this period, negotiations reached a dead end, Israel would reserve the right to go back to war.

US envoy Witkoff has not made his proposal public. According to Israel, it would begin with the release of half of all the remaining living and dead hostages.

Netanyahu’s office said Israel would immediately start negotiations if Hamas changed its position on the six-week ceasefire extension.

The first phase of the ceasefire that came into force on 19 January expired on Saturday.

It halted 15 months of fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military, allowing the release of 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But negotiations on phase two, including the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, have barely begun.

There are believed to be 24 hostages alive, with another 39 presumed to be dead.

Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.

Israel responded with an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel said on Sunday it was delaying the release of more than 600 Palestinians in return for six living and four dead hostages who had been freed, accusing Hamas of repeated violations including “humiliating” handover ceremonies.

A senior Hamas official said the decision exposed the entire agreement to “grave danger” and called on mediators, especially the US, to pressure Israel.

The deal’s first phase and temporary six-week truce is set to expire on Saturday but indirect negotiations on the second phase and an end to the war have not yet begun.

UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the ceasefire was “precarious” and that a resumption of hostilities must be avoided at all costs.

He also called for the “dignified release of all remaining hostages”.

On Saturday – the start of the sixth and final week of the ceasefire deal’s first phase – Hamas released six living Israeli hostages.

As with many of the previous handovers, five of them were led onto stages beside armed fighters before being transferred to the Red Cross and then taken to Israel.

Later, Hamas posted a video of two other hostages in a vehicle watching one of the handover ceremonies and appearing to plead with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get them out too. A forum representing the hostages’ families condemned the video as a “sickening display of cruelty”.

There was already fury in Israel after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages earlier in the week, including those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Ariel and Kfir, who were abducted during the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

It emerged on Friday that Hamas had handed over the remains of a Palestinian woman rather than those of Ms Bibas. The group said there had been a mistake and transferred Ms Bibas’s body later that day.

Israeli authorities also said a post-mortem had shown that Ariel and Kfir’s captors killed the boys “with their bare hands”, contradicting Hamas’s claim that they died in an Israeli air strike.

Israel was scheduled to free 620 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 10 hostages. More than 400 were Gazans detained by Israeli forces during the war, while 50 of the prisoners were serving life sentences in Israeli jails.

They had reportedly already boarded buses at a prison in the occupied West Bank when the order came to suspend their release while Netanyahu consulted ministers.

In the early hours of Sunday, the prime minister’s office said the release would be postponed “in light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes”.

“It has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.”

Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, UK and other countries – denounced Israel’s decision as a “blatant violation” of the deal and warned US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that there could be no talks on extending the ceasefire until the prisoners were released.

“We have conveyed a clear and strong message to the mediators – we cannot continue discussing any further steps if these 620 Palestinians are not released,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday.

Asked if the scheduled release of the bodies of another four Israeli hostages on Thursday could be affected, he replied that “all options are on the table”.

“Before going to the next step, we have to be sure that the past step [will happen],” he added.

“Netanyahu is clearly sending strong messages that he is intentionally sabotaging the deal, he is preparing the atmosphere for returning back to the war. Therefore, what are the guarantees that he might take the other four bodies and again not release the agreed-upon number of Palestinians, plus the 620 Palestinians?”

Naim said Hamas had discussed Israel’s complaints about the hostage handover ceremonies, but denied they had been humiliating and alleged that Israeli authorities had mistreated Palestinian prisoners before they were released.

The White House backed Israel’s decision to delay the prisoner release, saying it was an “appropriate response” to what it called the “barbaric treatment” of hostages by Hamas.

But President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said he would travel to the region this week with the aim of getting “an extension of phase one”.

“We’re hopeful that we have the proper time… to begin phase two, and finish it off and get more hostages released,” he told CNN on Sunday.

A total of 33 Israeli hostages are supposed to be exchanged for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza during the ceasefire deal’s first phase.

So far, 25 living hostages and four dead hostages have been released, while the bodies of the last four hostages are scheduled to be handed over this week. Five living Thai hostages have also been freed outside the deal.

The agreement has also seen Israeli forces withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been allowed to return to their homes in the north and hundreds of aid lorries are now being allowed into the territory each day.

The ceasefire’s second phase should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 48,346 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times, almost 70% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

The group’s negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said the bodies would include those of the Bibas family – Shiri and her young children Kfir and Ariel, who were aged nine months and four years when Hamas kidnapped them during the 7 October 2023 attack.

Hamas alleges that the three were killed in Israeli bombardment. Israel has not confirmed this. The children’s father Yarden was released by Hamas earlier this month.

Al-Hayya said Hamas would also release six living hostages on Saturday – double the number originally planned.

In exchange, Israel will free all women and those under the age of 19 arrested since last October and is allowing some rubble-clearing equipment into Gaza through the border with Egypt.

In a statement, al-Hayya said the group had agreed “handing over four bodies of the occupation prisoners on Thursday 20 February, including the bodies of the Bibas family”.

Hamas claimed in November 2023 they had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. Israeli officials have said only that they are gravely concerned for their lives.

An Israeli official told Reuters that deceased hostages would undergo identification in Israel before being named.

In a statement, the Bibas family said: “In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday as part of the hostages’ remains release phase.

“We want to make it clear that while we are aware of these reports, we have not yet received any official confirmation regarding this matter.

“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.

Hamas has named two of the six Israelis to be released on Saturday.

They are Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who were seized in 2014 and 2015 respectively after they crossed into Gaza on their own. The Israeli government has said both suffered from mental health issues at the time.

The families of several hostages have said that their loved ones are among those due to be released on the same day.

They are Omer Shem Tov, 22, Eliya Cohen, 27 and Omer Wenkert, 23, who were taken from the Nova Festival on 7 October 2023, and 40-year-old Tal Shoam who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages. In exchange, Israel agreed to release about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

Talks on progressing to the second phase of the deal – under which the remaining living hostages would be released and the war would end permanently – were due to start earlier this month but have not yet begun.

Hamas has said it is ready to release in one go all the hostages due to be freed in phase two of the ceasefire deal with Israel. 

But a Hamas spokesman made clear that the offer involving more than 60 remaining hostages was dependent on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and an agreement for a permanent end to the war. 

Hamas also rejected Israel’s demand for its disarmament and removal from Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the talks would begin “this week”.

He said Israel would “not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation in Gaza” but that Israel could prolong the ceasefire if discussions were productive.

“If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time-frame work longer,” Saar said.

A total of 73 hostages are currently being held in Gaza – a mixture of Israeli soldiers and civilians both dead and alive. This also includes Thai and Nepalese nationals.

Some 251 hostages were taken by Hamas when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people.

Israel responded with a 15-month military offensive that killed 47,460 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, and devastated the coastal enclave.

Following talks in Cairo, the Palestinian armed group said mediators from Egypt and Qatar had confirmed they would “remove obstacles”.

There was no response from Israel. But Egyptian and Qatari reports also said mediators had bridged the gaps between the two sides and both were committed to continue implementation.

On Tuesday, Israel said the ceasefire would end if Hamas did not return hostages by Saturday. Hamas had earlier said it was postponing releases over what it claimed were Israeli violations.

Hamas said these included a failure to allow in the agreed amounts of vital humanitarian aid, including tents and shelters, which Israel denied.

The group’s threat to derail the deal prompted US President Donald Trump to propose Israel cancel the agreement altogether and “let hell break out” unless “all of the hostages” were returned by Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he welcomed Trump’s demand and warned: “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon [10:00 GMT], the ceasefire will end and the [Israeli military] will resume intense fighting until the final defeat of Hamas.”

However, there were conflicting messages from Israeli officials about whether he was demanding the release of all 76 hostages still in Gaza – in line with Trump’s ultimatum – or just the three due to be freed this weekend.

On Wednesday, an Egyptian security source told the BBC that Egypt and Qatar were “intensifying their diplomatic efforts in an attempt to salvage the ceasefire agreement”, as Hamas’s leader for Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo to hold talks with Egypt’s intelligence chief and other officials.

On Thursday, Hamas put out a statement saying they focused on the need for all terms of the deal to be fulfilled, particularly regarding deliveries of caravans, tents, heavy construction equipment, medical supplies and fuel.

It added that the talks were “positive” and that the mediators had agreed to work to “remove obstacles and close gaps”.

“Accordingly, Hamas reaffirms its commitment to implementing the agreement as signed, including the exchange of prisoners according to the specified timeline.”

At the same time, Egyptian state-run Al Qahera TV reported that Egypt and Qatar had successfully “overcome obstacles” and that Israel and Hamas were committed to fully implementing the ceasefire deal.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV also said the negotiations had been successful and that mobile homes and heavy machinery would be allowed into Gaza on Thursday.

However, Israeli media then cited the Israeli prime minister’s office as calling the Al Jazeera report “fake news” and saying there was “no basis” to it.

An Israeli government spokesman later clarified the denial, writing on X: “There is no entry of caravans or heavy equipment into the Gaza Strip, and there is no co-ordination for this.”

The first phase of the ceasefire deal is supposed to last six weeks and see a total of 33 Israeli hostages exchanged for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza.

So far, 16 living Israeli hostages have been freed since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January. Hamas has also handed over five Thai hostages outside the terms of the deal.

The 17 other Israeli hostages due to be released during the first phase are two children, one woman, five men over the age of 50, and nine men under 50. They are supposed to be handed over in the next three weeks. Both sides have said eight of these hostages are dead, but only one has been named.

Negotiations for the ceasefire’s second phase – which should see the 43 remaining hostages released, a full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire – have not yet begun.

The deal has also seen Israeli forces withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the north, and hundreds of aid lorries allowed into the territory each day.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 48,230 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times, almost 70% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” he told Fox News. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”

A clip of the interview was released a day after Trump said he was “committed to buying and owning Gaza”, despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week.

The Palestinian Authority and the armed group Hamas, whose 16-month war with Israel has caused widespread devastation in Gaza, reiterated that Palestinian land was “not for sale”.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s proposal as “revolutionary and creative”.

The UN has warned that any forced displacement of civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law and “tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.

It comes three weeks into a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, during which Hamas has released some of the Israeli hostages it is holding in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 48,200 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times, almost 70% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

In his interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Trump promised to build “beautiful communities” for the Palestinians of Gaza.

“Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this,” he said.

“Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”

He then explained that the Palestinians would have no right of return to Gaza because their lives would be “much better” elsewhere, contradicting Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told reporters last week that the relocations would be temporary during reconstruction.

“If they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever – it’s not habitable,” Trump said.

“I’m talking about starting to build, and I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year.”

Egypt and Jordan’s leaders have rejected both Trump’s plan and his previous requests to take in refugees from Gaza.

However, Jordan’s King Abdullah is due to meet Trump in Washington on Tuesday, while Israel’s president said Trump would also hold talks with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the coming days.

On Sunday, Trump doubled down on his takeover plan.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” he told reporters on board Air Force One, without explaining who he would buy the territory from and how the US would own it.

“As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.”

Trump said people from all over the world would be able to move to Gaza and that Palestinians would not want to go back there.

“They only go back because they have no alternative,” he claimed.

Israel’s prime minister praised Trump’s proposal at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“For a full year, we have been told that on the ‘day after’, the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organisation], the Palestinian Authority, needs to be in the Strip,” Netanyahu said.

“President Trump came with a completely different vision, much better for the State of Israel, a revolutionary and creative vision, which we are discussing. He is very determined to carry it out. This also opens many possibilities before us.”

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said: “The rights of our people and our land are not for sale, exchange or bargaining.”

“The Israeli government and Prime Minister Netanyahu are trying to cover up the crimes of genocide, forced displacement and annexation which they have committed against our people,” it added.

“For this purpose, they continue to promote slogans and positions which are separate from the political reality and far from the requirements of the political solutions to the conflict.”

A political official from Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, the UK and other countries – said Trump’s remarks were “absurd” and reflected “deep ignorance of Palestine and the region”.

“Gaza is not a property to be sold and bought. It is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land,” Izzat al-Rishq stated.

Palestinians fear a repeat of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Many of those refugees ended up in Gaza, where they and their descendants make up three quarters of the population. Another 900,000 registered refugees live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war along with Gaza, while 3.4 million others live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, according to the UN.

Palestinians insist on the right of those refugees to return but Israel has refused this.

Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, though it retained control of its shared border, airspace and shoreline, giving it effective control of the movement of people and goods. The UN still regards Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory because of the level of control Israel has.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz also strongly criticised Trump’s plan on Sunday, calling it a “scandal”.

“I say this with the Egyptian government, with the Jordanian government and with the people who can count on human dignity: the relocation of a population is unacceptable and against international law,” he said during a televised pre-election debate.

Palestinian officials and Arab states also condemned comments made by Netanyahu in a TV interview last week.

An Israeli journalist was discussing efforts to normalise diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia when he mistakenly said there would be no progress without the creation of a “Saudi state”.

“A Palestinian state.” Netanyahu corrected him, before adding: “Unless you want the Palestinian state to be in Saudi Arabia? They have a lot of territory.”

Egypt called the suggestion “reckless” and something that “directly infringes upon Saudi sovereignty”, while Jordan said it was “a flagrant violation of international law”.

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that it appreciated the “condemnation, disapproval and total rejection announced by the brotherly countries towards what Benjamin Netanyahu stated regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land”.