Israel identified the remains of two hostages on Sunday after Hamas handed over their bodies to the Red Cross the night before.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker killed at Kibbutz Be’eri. Both were believed to have been killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and their bodies were taken to Gaza. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in an earlier ceasefire in November 2023.
Hostages Family Forum via AP
Since the Gaza peace plan took effect early this week, Hamas has handed over 20 living hostages and the confirmed remains of at least 12 hostages. The remains of at least 16 Hamas-held hostages are still unaccounted for. One of the bodies released to Israel did not belong to a hostage.
Hostages Family Forum via AP 
The handover of remains, along with aid deliveries into Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory, are among key points in the ceasefire, reached on Oct. 10, meant to end two years of war.
President Trump joined world leaders in Egypt on Monday to sign the U.S.-brokered peace plan that saw Hamas agree to release all remaining living and deceased hostages in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The released Palestinians include 250 people who are serving life sentences, and about 1,700 others who had been detained and held without charges since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
Hamas handed over the bodies of four confirmed hostages on Monday, another three on Tuesday, and two on Wednesday. That same day, it said that it had released all the Israeli hostage remains in Gaza that it had been able to recover. But on Friday, it returned another confirmed hostage.
And according to the Associated Press, as part of the ceasefire deal, Israel has so far returned to Gaza the bodies of at least 135 Palestinians. On Sunday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Israel returned the bodies of another 15 Palestinians.
A senior U.S. adviser told reporters on a call Wednesday that “nobody is getting left behind,” noting they believe there are still many bodies buried under the mountains of rubble across Gaza. Senior U.S. advisers said the level of destruction also makes it difficult to move around in the Palestinian territory.
Mr. Trump also said in Egypt on Monday that not all of the bodies of the deceased hostages had been found, adding that unidentified parties were still “working out” how to locate an unspecified number of remains.
Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday that U.S. personnel would take part in the effort to recover the remains of hostages.
Tensions emerged over the implementation of the peace plan this weekend, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the ceasefire in recent days.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that militants shot at troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in the Israeli-controlled areas, according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. A senior Hamas official denied to the Associated Press that Hamas was involved.
Netanyahu’s office announced Saturday that the critical southern Gaza border crossing of Rafah, which connects with Egypt, “would not be opened until further notice,” saying that its opening would be dependent “on how Hamas fulfills its part in returning the abductees and implementing the agreed-upon outline.”
Hamas responded by calling the move “a blatant violation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department issued a statement late Saturday saying that the U.S. had learned of a plan by Hamas to attack “Palestinian civilians.”
The U.S. said it “had informed the guarantor nations of the Gaza peace agreement of credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza.”
Hamas rejected the U.S. claims on Sunday, calling them “false allegations” and accusing Israel of supporting armed groups operating in Israeli-controlled areas. Hamas urged the U.S. administration to pressure Israel to stop supporting the gangs and “providing them a safe haven.”
This comes after CBS News obtained a video on Wednesday that showed armed Hamas fighters standing over Palestinians they accused of being gang members collaborating with Israel. Moments later, they execute them.
The disturbing images are part of a long pattern of punishment meted out to suspected collaborators, Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin told CBS News.
First Appeared on
Source link
