Israel's prime minister's office said authorities have received the bodies of four hostages early Thursday, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will end.

An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed the bodies to the Red Cross. Israel said the caskets were delivered with the help of Egyptian mediators through an Israeli crossing and an identification process has begun.

Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s point person on the Middle East, has voiced optimism at efforts to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states that Trump brokered during his first term.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has suggested the Gaza Strip could be ruled and rebuilt by neighboring Egypt. In exchange, he said, Gulf Arab countries and the international community would help Egypt with its spiraling economic crisis by paying off billions of dollars in foreign debt.

Lapid said Egypt could lead a “peace force” backed from regional allies that would govern a demilitarized Gaza for eight years, possibly as long as 15 years.

Hamas said it would exchange the bodies of four Israeli hostages for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday, capping the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

The United States said talks were on track for a second phase of the ceasefire deal that has largely held but whose complexity and long-drawn-out implementation have highlighted its fragility.

The Israeli army said it carried out air strikes targeting military sites containing weapons in southern Syria on Tuesday, just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for demilitarizing the area.

The United States said talks for a second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal were on track, as Hamas said Israel agreed to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.

In Israel, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her sons, who were killed in captivity in Gaza and had become symbols of the hostages' ordeal.

Iran has put its defense systems around its nuclear sites on high alert amid fears of an attack by Israel and the U.S., The Telegraph British newspaper said Tuesday.

The daily said that, according to two high-level government sources, Iran has been on high alert and that several additional air defense system launchers have been deployed.

The first phase of the ceasefire that paused 15 months of brutal warfare between Israel and Hamas militants is set to end on Saturday — and it's unclear what comes next.

The two sides were supposed to start negotiating a second phase weeks ago in which Hamas would release all the remaining hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the war, in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas freed six Israelis on Saturday in the last scheduled release of living hostages by the militant group under the current stage of a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

In all, a total of 33 Israelis are being freed during this stage — including eight who are dead. Five Thai hostages have also been freed separately. Sixty-three hostages, including the body of a soldier held since 2014, remain in Gaza.

Israel on Monday denied entry to two European Union lawmakers, accusing one of promoting boycotts of the country.

Lynn Boylan, who chairs the European Parliament EU-Palestine delegation, and Rima Hassan were refused entry at Ben-Gurion airport and ordered to return to Europe.