Israel has reportedly set the end of Tuesday as a deadline for progress on the return by Hamas of the bodies of hostages.
The handover of 28 dead hostages was part of the agreement that ushered in a ceasefire in Gaza, but only four bodies have so far been released.
Mediators believe Hamas is having trouble locating all of the dead but according to the Kan public broadcaster, the Israeli government believes the group is holding some back.
On Monday, Hamas released the final 20 living hostages taken on 7 October 2023, while Israel handed over nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has claimed that failing to hand over the bodies would be a violation of the agreement that would have consequences.
The families of the dead have also demanded solidarity over the fate of their loved-ones, with Yael Adar, the mother of Tamir Adar, 38, whose body was taken from the Nir Oz kibbutz during the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, describing the lack of a handover as a violation of the peace deal. “The struggle is not over until the last captive returns,” she said.
The Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Hamas’s failure to release all of the bodies “must be met with a serious response”.
An Arab diplomat from a mediating country told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that mediators were working on the issue and did not believe the Gaza agreement was in jeopardy.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it will take time to hand over the remains of the hostages in Gaza, calling it a “massive challenge” owing to the difficulties of finding bodies amid the rubble.
“That’s an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released. That’s a massive challenge,” said the ICRC’s spokesperson Christian Cardon. “I think that there is clearly a risk that that will take much more time. What are we telling the parties is that that should be their top priority.”
Cardon said it could take days or weeks and that there was a possibility the remains would never be found. Hamas had already notified mediators that they do not know what happened to two of those still missing.
Hamas has so far handed over four caskets which were taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
Hamas has in the past sent back unrelated bodies instead of hostages.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had formally identified two of those handed over as Guy Illouz, 26, and Bipin Joshi, 23.
Illouz, who was building a career in the music industry, was shot at Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and was taken to a hospital in Gaza, where he died of his wounds.
Joshi, a Nepalese agriculture student who was in Israel to study, was kidnapped from Alumim kibbutz, where he was studying local farming methods.
Video footage released by the Israeli military soon after the 2023 Hamas attacks appeared to show Joshi being dragged into Gaza’s Shifa hospital, his last known sighting alive.
The two other bodies in the possession of the Israeli authorities and undergoing identification are said by Hamas to be those of Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Perez.
Sharabi, 53, from Be’eri kibbutz, was kidnapped on 7 October 2023 from his home, where he and his family were hiding in a reinforced room.
Gunmen killed the family dog and brought all those in the security room outside on to the lawn at gunpoint.
Yossi was last seen being taken to Gaza in a black vehicle along with Ofir Engel, his daughter’s boyfriend, who had been visiting the family for the weekend, and a neighbour, Amit Shani. Engel and Shani were released in previous exchanges. The cause of Yossi’s death is unknown.
The final body is said to be Perez, a platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th battalion who was killed near the Gaza border on 7 October 2023. Perez was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he attended religious schools before moving to Israel with his family in 2014.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military said that it had opened fire that morning to remove a threat posed by people who approached its forces in northern Gaza. It was reported that at least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in two separate incidents.
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