How many hostages are left in Gaza?

JERUSALEM (AP) — 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.

The remains of four Israeli hostages have been returned in a transfer that was marred when Hamas handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother of two young boys abducted by militants. After a tense standoff, her remains were returned and identified early Saturday.

The final four sets of remains are expected to be returned in the coming days.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. More than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel is releasing nearly 2,000 prisoners and detainees during the first phase of the ceasefire in exchange for the hostages.

Here are details on the hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023:

Total captured: 251

Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 141, of whom 4 were dead

Hostages still in captivity: 62, of whom Israel has declared 35 to be dead

Hostages in captivity who are soldiers: 13, of whom Israel has declared 7 to be dead

Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli troops: 40

Hostages rescued alive: 8

Non-Israelis still in captivity: 5 ( 3 Thais, 1 Nepalese, 1 Tanzanian), of whom 2 (1 Thai and 1 Nepalese) are believed to still be alive

Separately:

Hostages released who were held before Oct. 7, 2023: 2

Meanwhile, Israel retrieved the body of one soldier held in Gaza since he was killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The body of a second soldier killed in 2014 remains in Gaza.

This story has been updated to correct the number of hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023, who remain in captivity. It is 62, not 61. It also corrects the number of those in captivity Israel has declared dead. The number is 35.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Israelis watch on a live broadcast as the first two of six hostages to be released in Gaza by Palestinian militants are handed over to the Red Cross, in 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israelis watch on a live broadcast as the first two of six hostages to be released in Gaza by Palestinian militants are handed over to the Red Cross, in 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli hostages Tal Shoham left, and Avera Mengisto are escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli hostage Omer Shem, centre, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen, centre, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert, centre, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli hostages Eliya Cohen, left, and Omer Shem Tov are escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian fighters stand next to a coffin containing the body of Oded Lifshitz, as the remains of four bodies are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. Israel has identified three of the bodies as hostages and said the other was of an unknown person. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A woman holds two children at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, after Palestinian militant groups handed over four bodies to the Red Cross in Gaza. Israel has identified three of the bodies as hostages and said the other was of an unknown person. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A man holds a teddy bear at the so-called 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, after the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, were handed over by Palestinian militant groups to the Red Cross in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinian fighters stand next to a coffin containing the body of Oded Lifshitz, one of four Israeli hostages, to hand it over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A militant stands next to the coffins containing the bodies of hostages, from right to left, Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted before their are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A woman reacts at the so-called 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, as the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, are handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

An Israeli soldier holds his cellphone as he walks into "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, as Palestinian militant groups hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, to the Red Cross in Gaza.(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A woman holds two children at "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, after Palestinian militant groups handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, to the Red Cross in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A woman reacts as a convoy carrying the coffins containing the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, just handed over by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, drives by a road near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man holds a teddy bear at the so-called 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, after the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, were handed over by Palestinian militant groups to the Red Cross in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli captive, Eli Sharabi, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, stands on a stage escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

People attend a rally calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in front of the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, ahead of the planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — TikTok has signed agreements with three major investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — to form a new TikTok U.S. joint venture, ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.

The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press. In the communication, CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed to employees that ByteDance and TikTok signed the binding agreements with the consortium.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued dedication and tireless work. Your efforts keep us operating at the highest level and will ensure that TikTok continues to grow and thrive in the U.S. and around the world,” Chew wrote in the memo to employees. “With these agreements in place, our focus must stay where it’s always been—firmly on delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community.”

Half of the new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be owned by a group of investors — among them Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, who will each hold a 15% share. 19.9% of the new app will be held by ByteDance itself, and another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, according to the memo. The memo did not say who the other investors are and both TikTok and the White House declined to comment.

The U.S. venture will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors, the memo said. It will also be subject to terms that “protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”

U.S. user data will be stored locally in a system run by Oracle. The memo said U.S. users will continue “enjoying the same experience as today” and advertisers will continue to serve global audiences with no impact from the deal.

TikTok’s algorithm — the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed — will be retrained on U.S. user data to “ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” the memo said. The U.S. venture will also oversee content moderation and policies within the country.

American officials have previously warned that ByteDance’s algorithm is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance.

The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.

Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, continued to extend the deadline for a TikTok deal. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement. The third came in June, then another in September, which Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.

TikTok has more than 170 million users in the U.S. About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published this fall.

Shares of Oracle jumped $9.07, or 5%, to $189.10 in after-hours trading.

FILE - In this July 21, 2020 file photo, a man opens social media app 'TikTok' on his cell phone, in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)