Red Cross receives remains Hamas says belong to Gaza hostage

The Red Cross received a coffin that Hamas said contained the body of another hostage held in Gaza.

So far, the remains of 15 hostages who died in or after the October 7 attacks have been returned to Israel.

It comes after the Israeli government said it had allowed a Hamas member to enter Israel Defense Forces (IDF)-controlled territory in Gaza to help Red Cross and Egyptian personnel search for the bodies of the remaining dead hostages.

Israel accuses Hamas of violating the two-week Gaza ceasefire agreement for not returning the entire bodies of its 28 hostages.

The Palestinian group said it was committed to the agreement brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, but needed help finding remains buried under the rubble left by two years of war.

“The Red Cross, the Egyptian technical team and a Hamas official were allowed to go beyond the Yellow Line position in Gaza under the close supervision of the Israeli Armed Forces,” government spokesman Shosh Bedrosyan said in a briefing on Monday. he said.

He also said the Egyptians would bring more equipment, including “tractor-type vehicles.”

All 20 living Israeli hostages were released shortly after the ceasefire took effect on October 10, in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gaza detainees.

Israel also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 13 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas and two foreign hostages, one Thai and the other Nepalese.

Of the hostages currently dead in Gaza, 11 are Israelis, one is Tanzanian and one is Thai.

“Hamas knows where they are and they have no choice but to return home,” Ms. Bedrosian said.

Earlier, the group representing the families of the Israeli hostages had demanded immediate action to ensure Hamas handed over all the bodies. This includes delaying the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.

In the statement made by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, “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.” The statement was included.

This came after Israeli media quoted an Israeli security official as saying that the Trump administration wanted to move to phase two even if not all the hostages were found.

On Saturday, Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement that the group was facing “challenges” because Israeli forces were “changing the terrain of Gaza”.

“Also, some of those who buried the bodies were martyred or no longer remember where they buried them,” he added.

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.