Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday meanwhile killed at least 13 people, including three local journalists who were in the courtyard of a hospital, according to health officials in the territory. The military said it targeted a militant in that strike. Israel said the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency. The military says they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack. Hamas-led militants are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive.

Hamas has handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to symbolize the nation's agony following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The militant group said it released the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir was the youngest captive taken that day. Hamas has said all four were killed in Israeli airstrikes. The militants displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, surrounded by banners, before handing them over to the Red Cross.

News that three high-profile hostages are expected to be released has brought excitement and trepidation to Israel on Friday. The men include Yarden Bibas, who is the father of the youngest captives held in Gaza. He, Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon have all become household names in Israel since their abduction. The men's release would be the fourth since a ceasefire paused the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas this month. In its first phase, 33 Israeli captives are expected to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.