As the Israeli military reported that the Red Cross had received two additional bodies in Gaza, Hamas declared on Wednesday that it had returned the remains of every dead captive that it could reach.
Under a ceasefire mediated by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has released roughly 2,000 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons in exchange for the return of 20 remaining hostages to Israel since Monday.
The remains of seven of the 28 known dead hostages had previously been returned by Hamas before the two bodies were turned over late on Wednesday. Israel also claimed that the eighth body was not that of a former hostage.
But late on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist movement’s armed wing said it had transferred all the bodies it could find and would need specialist recovery equipment to retrieve the rest from Gaza’s ruins.
“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 “two coffins of deceased hostages” had been transferred into the custody of the Red Cross and were on their way to Israeli forces 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 now domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tie aid to the fate of the bodies.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas fails to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.
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