Latest returned remains aren’t of hostages, Israel says
Israel says the remains of the three men handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas do not belong to any of the hostages; This is the latest development that could undermine the US-brokered ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war.
The handover took place after Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza on Friday.
The exchange, which came after militants handed over the remains of two hostages earlier this week, was a sign that the tense Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement was moving forward.
The unidentified remains of the three men were returned to Israel late Friday and were examined there overnight.
A military official warned at the time that Israeli intelligence suggested they did not belong to any of the hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.
A second Israeli military official confirmed on Saturday that they were not hostages, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“The remains we took are not our hostages,” the office said in a statement on Saturday. he said.
It was unclear who they were and why they were extradited to Israel.
The two Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
A Hamas spokesman did not immediately respond to calls and messages seeking comment.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force on October 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 17 hostages held in Gaza for the past two years.
But the process of returning the bodies of the last 11 remaining hostages under the ceasefire agreement is moving slowly, with militants leaving only one or two bodies every few days.
The total number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel since the ceasefire began reached 225.
Only 75 of them were identified by families, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
It is unclear whether those repatriated were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack, whether they died as detainees in Israeli custody, or whether they were rescued from Gaza by soldiers during the war.
The fragile ceasefire was challenged this week by Israeli attacks that killed more than 100 people across Gaza after an Israeli soldier was killed in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, and hostages failed to fully return.
