Hamas announced Wednesday that it had handed back the remains of all slain hostages that it could reach, while the Israeli military reported that the Red Cross had received two more bodies in Gaza.
Since Monday, under a cease-fire arrangement negotiated by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has returned 20 surviving captives to Israel in exchange for approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons.
Before the two bodies were turned over late Wednesday, Hamas had already delivered the remains of seven of the 28 known deceased captives, as well as an eighth body that Israel said was not that of a former hostage.
However, late on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist movement’s armed wing stated that it had moved all of the bodies it could find and would require specialized recovery equipment to collect the others from Gaza’s rubble.
“The Resistance has fulfilled its commitment to the agreement by handing over all living Israeli prisoners in its custody, as well as the corpses it could access,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement on social media.
“As for the remaining corpses, it requires extensive efforts and special equipment for their retrieval and extraction. We are exerting great effort in order to close this file,” it added.
The announcement came as the Israeli military said that “two coffins of deceased hostages” had been given to the Red Cross and were en route to Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages,” a joint statement from the Israeli military and security agency said.
There is increasing internal pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to link aid to the fate of the bodies.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, has threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas does not release the remains of troops still held in the enclave.
