Hamas has handed over the stays of a further captive it recovered within the ravaged Gaza Strip, because the Palestinian group urges mediators and the worldwide neighborhood to stress Israel to open border crossings and allow aid in.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, stated in a press release on Friday that its fighters handed over the stays at 11pm native time (20:00 GMT), with out elaborating on the place the physique was retrieved.
Beneficial Tales
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In line with the group, the stays had been pulled out earlier within the day and had been these of an “occupation prisoner”, suggesting they belonged to an Israeli fairly than one of many captives of a number of different nationalities additionally taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace confirmed a short time later that Israel had obtained the coffin of a captive after it was handed over to the Crimson Cross by Hamas in Gaza.
The coffin might be transferred to Israel’s Ministry of Well being’s Nationwide Heart for Forensic Medication, the place a proper identification course of might be performed earlier than the household is knowledgeable.
The Israeli army requested that “the general public act with sensitivity and look ahead to the official identification”. It additionally added that “Hamas is required to uphold the settlement and take the mandatory steps to return all of the deceased hostages”.
Hamas has stated it’s dedicated to the phrases of the United States-mediated ceasefire deal, together with the handover of captive our bodies nonetheless unaccounted for beneath Gaza’s ruins. It has repeatedly stated it has returned all of the our bodies it was capable of get well, however wants assist finding remaining captives trapped beneath the rubble following Israeli strikes.
“There are nonetheless 18 our bodies held inside Gaza,” stated Al Jazeera’s Hamda Salhut, reporting from Amman on Friday. “Hamas says that they’re ready for the help they want within the assist in the type of heavy equipment and groups on the bottom.”
Israel is ‘not cooperating’
Former Israeli ambassador Alon Liel stated the return of the our bodies of the useless captives is being handled very emotionally within the nation, creating stress on the federal government.
He stated many Israelis believed that Hamas was dishonest on the ceasefire settlement by not returning all of the our bodies of the deceased captives. “There may be quite a lot of anger,” Liel stated.
In a press release earlier on Friday, Hamas stated some captives’ stays had been in tunnels or buildings that had been later destroyed by Israel, and that heavy equipment was required to dig by means of rubble to retrieve them. It blamed Israel for the delay, saying it had not allowed any new bulldozers into the Gaza Strip.
Most heavy tools in Gaza was destroyed in the course of the warfare, leaving solely a restricted quantity as Palestinians attempt to clear huge quantities of rubble throughout the bombarded territory.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, stated Israel is “not cooperating with international locations which can be lending assist to presumably search for these stays”.
“Turkiye, for instance, was able to ship 81 specialists within the retrieval of our bodies, and Israel has not allowed it to enter. It has additionally not allowed it to supply tools that would presumably facilitate that,” Odeh stated.
On Friday, two bulldozers ploughed up pits within the earth as Hamas looked for captives’ stays in Hamad Metropolis, a fancy of house towers in Khan Younis. Israeli forces repeatedly bombarded the towers in the course of the warfare, toppling some, and troops performed a weeklong raid there in March 2024.
US President Donald Trump has warned Hamas that he would greenlight Israel to renew the warfare on Gaza if the group doesn’t stay as much as its finish of the deal and return all captives’ our bodies, totalling 28. To date prior to now days, Hamas handed over the stays of 9 captives, together with a tenth physique that Israel claims was not that of a captive.
The return of the tenth useless captive on Friday comes as Gaza’s civil defence stated greater than 10,000 slain Palestinians stay trapped beneath particles and rubble throughout the enclave. Solely 280 have thus far been retrieved.
Hamas has urged mediators to make sure the elevated circulation of important support into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and begin reconstruction. Regardless of the ceasefire deal agreed final week, Israel has but to permit the entry of support in scale and continues to be working in about half of the Gaza Strip, as assaults proceed in some areas.
