AFP by way of Getty PhotographsIsrael has acquired, via the Pink Cross, a coffin that Hamas says accommodates the physique of one other deceased hostage held in Gaza.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) stated its troops had taken the coffin from Gaza again to Israel, the place forensic exams can be used to determine the stays.
If they’re confirmed as belonging to a hostage, Hamas may have returned 16 of the 28 useless Israelis and foreigners it was holding earlier than the beginning of a ceasefire two weeks in the past.
The newest handover got here after the Israeli authorities stated it had allowed a member of Hamas into territory inside Gaza managed by the IDF to assist Pink Cross and Egyptian personnel seek for the remaining useless hostages.
Israel accuses Hamas of violating the ceasefire settlement brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey as a result of it has not returned the entire hostages’ our bodies.
The Palestinian armed group says it’s dedicated to the deal, however that it wants assist to seek out stays buried below the rubble left by two years of battle.
“The Pink Cross, the Egyptian technical staff, and a Hamas individual have been permitted to enter past the IDF’s Yellow Line place in Gaza below shut IDF supervision,” Israeli authorities spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian advised a briefing on Monday afternoon.
She additionally stated the Egyptians would deliver in additional tools, together with “tractor-type automobiles”.
On Sunday, she had stated they have been utilizing two to a few excavators and an analogous variety of lorries to hold out searches.
All 20 residing Israeli hostages have been launched quickly after the ceasefire took impact on 10 October in change for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
Israel had additionally handed over the our bodies of 195 Palestinians in change for the our bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages beforehand returned by Hamas, together with these of two overseas hostages – certainly one of them Thai and the opposite Nepalese.
Earlier than Monday evening’s handover, 11 of the useless hostages nonetheless in Gaza have been Israelis, one was Tanzanian, and one was Thai.
“Hamas is aware of the place they’re positioned and there’s no different choice however for them to be launched again dwelling,” Ms Bedrosian stated.
ReutersEarlier, the group representing the Israeli hostages’ households demanded that fast motion be taken to make sure Hamas handed over all of the our bodies. This consists of delaying the second part of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
“The households urge the federal government of Israel, america administration, and the mediators to not advance to the subsequent part of the settlement till Hamas fulfils all of its obligations,” the Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board stated.
It got here after Israeli media cited an Israeli safety official as saying that the Trump administration wished to maneuver to the second part even when not all of the hostages have been discovered.
On Saturday, Hamas’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya stated in an announcement that the group was going through “challenges” as a result of Israeli forces had “altered the terrain of Gaza”.
“Furthermore, a few of those that buried the our bodies have been martyred or now not keep in mind the place they buried them,” he added.
All however one of many useless hostages nonetheless in Gaza have been among the many 251 folks kidnapped in the course of the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, throughout which about 1,200 different folks have been killed.
Israel responded by launching a navy marketing campaign in Gaza, throughout which greater than 68,500 folks have been killed, based on the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
