Israel announced this Sunday, November 2, early in the afternoon that it had received the remains of three hostages that were handed over to it by the Red Cross, within the framework of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that provides for the exchange of mortal remains.
Despite several moments of tension, a fragile truce has been maintained in Gaza since October 10, within the framework of an agreement negotiated by the United States, whose objective is the return of all the hostages kidnapped in Israel, alive or dead.
Since the start of the truce, Hamas has freed 20 surviving hostages and begun returning the remains of those killed. Of the 28 bodies involved, 17 were returned by Sunday night, including 15 Israelis, one Thai and one Nepalese.
The three new bodies returned on Sunday night have not yet been identified by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Bodies “found during the day”
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades had previously stated that “the bodies of three captured Israeli soldiers, found during the day in the layout of one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip” will be handed over within the framework of the “prisoner” exchange agreement.
Israel has accused Hamas of slowing down the process of returning the bodies, while the Islamist organization claims that the slowness is explained by the fact that many remains are buried under the rubble of Gaza.
Hamas has repeatedly asked mediators and the Red Cross to provide it with the equipment and personnel necessary to find the bodies.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Sunday that the handover of the remains of three hostages on Sunday showed that his organization was “doing everything possible to return the bodies as quickly as possible.”
“We ask for the return of the 11 deceased hostages”
For its part, the Hostage Families Forum on Sunday asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble his efforts to repatriate the remains of the captives still missing.
In addition to the 17 hostage bodies returned, Hamas also handed over the partial remains of a hostage whose body had already been recovered last year by the Israeli army.
The incident sparked outrage in Israel, which accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement by returning only partial remains instead of the hostage’s full body.
“We ask for the return of the 11 deceased hostages who have not yet been returned to the land of Israel,” Inbal Bachar, aunt of Sahar Baruch, whose remains were delivered to Israel earlier this week, said at the funeral.
In Gaza, Palestinians hope that an Israeli military withdrawal will follow the truce and end their ordeal.
“We want the second phase of the agreement to begin so that we can return home,” said Naïf al-Sulaibi, a resident of Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The implementation of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan has not yet been approved, particularly with regard to the disarmament of Hamas, the establishment of a transitional authority and the deployment of an international stabilization force in Gaza.
Source: BFM TV
