Israel has announced the names of the three hostages set to be released Saturday, in what would be the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.

The Prime Minister's Office confirmed on Tuesday Hamas will release six hostages on Saturday after the terror group said it will also transfer the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza to Israel on Thursday.

A top Hamas leader says the militant group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday.

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they would release hostages Iair Horn, U.S.-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov on Saturday, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire with Israel.

DUBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Hamas will release the bodies of four hostages on Thursday, while the remaining six hostages still alive will be released on Saturday, including Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto, who were held in Gaza before the start of war there, the Hamas leader in Gaza said on Tuesday.

Hamas on Tuesday said that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

The terrorist group had earlier said it was suspending the handovers — starting with those planned for Saturday — over what it claimed were Israeli violations of their agreed terms.

Hamas has said it’s ready to exchange its remaining Israeli hostages all at once with Palestinian prisoners during the Gaza truce’s second phase as a step leading to a “permanent ceasefire” and the full withdrawal of Israel’s forces from the enclave.

Gaza Hamas on Wednesday proposed exchanging all Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in "one go" during the second phase of the ceasefire deal to bring a permanent end to fightigng and complete the withdrawal of Israel's forces from Gaza.