Daijiworld Media Network - Gaza
Gaza, Oct 28: Under increasing international pressure to fulfil its commitments under the Gaza ceasefire, Hamas on Monday handed over the remains of one of the deceased Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the remains of the sixteenth of 28 deceased hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks had been received by Israeli forces. The coffin was transferred from Gaza to Israel, where it will be received with full military honours before being sent to the national forensic institute for identification and eventual handover to the hostage’s family.
“All of the hostages’ families have been updated accordingly. The effort to bring back every one of our hostages continues and will not stop until the last hostage is returned,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
A Hamas official also confirmed the handover, telling AFP that “the body of an Israeli captive that was recovered today in the Gaza Strip has been handed over to the Red Cross.”
The transfer comes amid growing frustration from Israeli officials and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which accused Hamas of stalling the process. The forum noted that while Hamas had released 20 living captives, 13 deceased hostages remain unreturned, despite the agreed deadline passing two weeks ago.
“Hamas knows exactly where every one of the deceased hostages is held,” the forum said, urging Israel, the US, and mediators not to move forward to the next phase of the ceasefire deal until all the remains are returned.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem, however, rejected the accusations, saying Israel’s bombings had destroyed many of the sites where bodies might be located. “We affirm our commitment to completing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. We are determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible,” he said.
During the October 7, 2023 attacks, Hamas militants took 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released, rescued, or recovered. The assault killed 1,221 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official figures. In response, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 68,527 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Israel on Monday lifted the state of emergency for areas near the Gaza border for the first time since the attacks, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced.
To aid in the search for remaining bodies, Egypt has deployed recovery teams and heavy machinery into Gaza with Israel’s approval. A joint team comprising Red Cross staff, Egyptian rescuers, and a Hamas representative has been allowed to cross into Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza to continue the recovery operations.
Meanwhile, the United States administration, led by President Donald Trump, is working to form an international security force made up of Arab and Muslim nations to oversee the Gaza truce. However, Israel has objected strongly to Turkey’s inclusion, citing Ankara’s “hostile stance” under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“It is not reasonable for us to allow Turkish armed forces into Gaza. We have conveyed this clearly to our American friends,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said during a press conference in Budapest.
The US military has established a coordination centre in southern Israel to monitor the ceasefire and aid flow. Despite partial Israeli withdrawals, the army continues to control about half of Gaza and has restricted humanitarian convoys through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, prompting calls from aid agencies for greater access to civilians caught in the ongoing crisis.