The armed wing of Hamas announced this Thursday, October 30, that it would return to Israel at 3:00 p.m. two remains of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, as part of the ceasefire agreement in force since October 10.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades announced on their Telegram account that they would hand over the bodies of “two Israeli prisoners.” The Palestinian Islamist movement has so far returned the remains of 15 of the 28 bodies that were still in Gaza and that should have been returned at the beginning of the truce, stating that locating remains is “complex and difficult” in the ruined territory.
A fragile truce
On Tuesday, Hamas announced that it was postponing the handover of an agency scheduled for the same day due to “violations” of the truce by Israel. That day, the Israeli prime minister ordered “immediate” attacks on Gaza, accusing Hamas of having violated the ceasefire by killing an Israeli soldier in Rafah, in the south of the territory.
These attacks left more than 100 dead in the Gaza Strip, including women and dozens of children, according to the Civil Defense, which operates under the control of Hamas, and hospitals.
On Monday afternoon, Hamas returned to Israel the remains of a hostage, which forensic doctors eventually identified as those of a man, Ofir Tzarfati, whose remains had already been returned. These successive delays infuriated the Israeli government.
However, on Wednesday morning Israel declared that it had resumed implementing the ceasefire. For its part, Hamas declared that its fighters “had no link to the shooting in Rafah” and reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire.
Source: BFM TV
