The armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas announced this Monday, October 27, that the remains of the sixteenth hostage held since the attack on October 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip would be returned to Israel at night.
In a message on its Telegram channel, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades specified that the remains will be delivered “today in the Gaza Strip at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. French time).”
Hamas released the last 20 living hostages on October 13. He was also supposed to return on this date the 28 bodies of the captives he is holding, but to date he has only returned 15, citing difficulties in finding the remains in the territory devastated by the war.
A call to suspend the ceasefire agreement
Earlier on Monday, the Families Forum campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza called for suspending the next steps in the ceasefire agreement until Hamas has returned the last 13 remains still in Palestinian territory.
Recalling that under the terms of the agreement, all live and dead hostages should have been returned by October 13, the main Israeli organization of hostage families asks in a statement “the Israeli government, the American administration and the mediators not to move to the next phase of the agreement until Hamas has fulfilled all its obligations.”
The second phase includes, in particular, the disarmament of Hamas, the amnesty or exile of its fighters and the continuation of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, points that remain the subject of discussion.
Source: BFM TV
