Hamas hands over three coffins it says contain bodies of Gaza hostages
According to the Israeli military, Hamas has handed over three coffins that it says contain the bodies of hostages killed in Gaza.
Israel received the coffins through the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip and transported them to Israel for official identification.
If it is confirmed that there are dead hostages, this would mean that there remain eight Israeli and foreign hostages who died in Gaza.
As part of the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel, which started last month, Hamas agreed to return 20 living and 28 dead hostages.
While Israel accused Hamas of being too slow in bringing back the dead hostages, Hamas said it was working to recover the bodies buried under the rubble in the region.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said the remains were found early Sunday “along the route of one of the tunnels in the south of the Gaza Strip.”
Later, the following statements were made on the official X account of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The families of all hostages have been informed accordingly and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour. Efforts to bring back our hostages continue and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”
Hamas and Israel accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
A man was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israeli army announced that it shot a militant who posed a threat to its soldiers.
As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, all living Israeli hostages were released on October 13 in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gazan prisoners.
So far, Israel has handed over the bodies of 225 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 15 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas and two foreign hostages, one from Thailand and the other from Nepal.
Before Sunday, of the 11 hostages still dead in Gaza, nine were Israelis, one Tanzanian and one Thai.
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among 251 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza in which more than 68,500 people were killed, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry.
