Hamas on Saturday released the last six living hostages expected under the first phase of its ceasefire with Israel with a week remaining, as questions over the next phase clouded the deal 's future.

Children and brothers Kfir and Ariel Bibas, symbols of the worst assault on Jews since the Holocaust, were kidnapped along with their mother by Hamas.

The family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas confirmed on Saturday receipt of her remains, just ahead of the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange under a fragile Gaza ceasefire. Bibas and her two young sons had become symbols of the ordeal suffered by Israeli hostages since the Gaza war began.

The emerging Arab plan is likely to call for Palestinian technocrats to govern Gaza and billions to be spent on reconstruction, without removing Gazan residents.

Arab leaders met in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Friday for the first time to formulate a response to President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take ownership of Gaza, expel its Palestinian population and turn it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.