Hamas Returns Hostage Body as Families Urge Pause to Gaza Truce

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israeli forces retrieved a coffin containing what Hamas said was the sixteenth of 28 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

The Israeli army and security services will take the coffin from Gaza to Israel, where it will be received with a military ceremony and then taken to the national forensic institute for identification and eventual delivery to the hostage’s family.

“The families of all hostages have been informed accordingly and our hearts go out to them in this difficult hour. Efforts to bring back our hostages continue and will not end until the last hostage is returned,” the statement said. expressions were used.

– Deadline missed –

A knowledgeable source within Hamas confirmed the handover. Speaking to AFP, the source said, “The body of an Israeli prisoner found in the Gaza Strip was handed over to the Red Cross today.”

The latest exchange came as both senior Israeli officials and an association representing the families of the Oct. 7 hostages demanded that Hamas speed up the transfer, which has slowed since it freed the 20 living captives.

Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, “Hamas knows exactly where each of the deceased hostages is held. Two weeks have passed since the deadline set in the agreement for the return of all 48 hostages, but 13 hostages are still in Hamas captivity.” he said.

“The families call on the Israeli government, the US administration and the mediators not to proceed to the next phase of the agreement until Hamas fulfills all its obligations and returns the hostages to Israel,” the association said.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Kasim protested that the group’s claim to know the location of the remaining missing bodies was “incorrect”, arguing that Israeli bombardment during the two-year conflict had left the sites unrecognisable.

“We confirm our determination to complete the first phase of the ceasefire agreement to prevent the occupation from finding any excuses,” he said, referring to Palestinian fears that Israel could renew military action despite the ceasefire. he said.

“We are determined to deliver the bodies of Israeli prisoners as soon as possible,” he said.

– Search the bodies –

Hamas militants took 251 people hostage during their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, most of whom were released, rescued or rescued before this month’s ceasefire.

The attack resulted in 1,221 deaths, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s calculation based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel’s subsequent attack on Gaza, at least 68,527 people died, according to figures from the Hamas-ruled region’s health ministry, which the UN finds reliable.

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Monday that Israel has lifted the state of emergency in areas near the Gaza border for the first time since the 2023 attack.

Hamas says it is committed to the ceasefire and is trying to return all the remaining bodies – 11 Israelis and two workers from Thailand and Tanzania – but insists the search has been hampered by the destruction wrought in Gaza during the war.

Over the past two days, Egypt has sent rescue teams and heavy earthmoving equipment to Gaza, with Israeli approval, to assist in the rescue operation.

Israeli spokesman Shosh Bedrosyan said a team consisting of Red Cross personnel, Egyptian rescue workers and a Hamas member searched for bodies and were allowed to cross the so-called Yellow Line into the Gaza area controlled by Israeli forces.

A Red Cross spokesman confirmed he was also part of the search team.

– Turkish opposition –

No definitive timeline has been set for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire plan, but the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to establish an international security force with troops from Arab and Muslim countries to monitor the ceasefire.

Israel has expressed strong opposition to Türkiye’s proposed participation in the security force.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said that under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye “led a hostile approach towards Israel, which included not only hostile statements but also diplomatic and economic measures against Israel.”

“So it makes no sense for us to allow their armed forces to enter the Gaza Strip and we will not accept that and we have told this to our American friends as well,” he added at a press conference during a visit to Budapest.

The US military has also set up a coordination center in southern Israel to monitor the ceasefire and coordinate aid and reconstruction, but aid agencies are pushing for greater access to humanitarian convoys in Gaza.

Israel has withdrawn its forces from Gaza’s main cities but still controls about half of the territory in positions along the Yellow Line and is resisting calls to allow aid through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.