Israel He claimed to know the location of the bodies of 9 of the 13 hostages died that remain retained by the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Stripwhile difficulties continue in the delivery of remains, as reported on Sunday by the Israeli public channel Khan. The pressure has increased on the group Islamist to resume the return of corpsesin accordance with the provisions of the ceasefire agreement and release of hostages mediated by USA.
The Government of Israel try to emphasize before Washington the urgency of recovering the remaining bodies, reported Khan. For several days, the Israeli authorities have not received any additional delivery of remains from Hamas. The concern was conveyed directly by the chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)lieutenant general Eyal Zamirto the American vice president J.D. Vance during his recent visit to the region, the media reported. Zamir stressed the importance that it represents for Israel the recovery of the remains, mentioning the case of the soldier Hadar Goldindied in 2014, whose body remains unrecovered.
Meanwhile, Hamas reported that it has not been able to locate the bodies of some of the 13 hostages remaining and that, since Tuesday, he has not delivered any more remains, alleging the need for help to locate them. However, Israel maintains that the group can facilitate more deliveries and would be withholding information about the whereabouts of the bodies, which would constitute a direct violation of the agreement for the ceasefire and the return of hostages signed on October 9, an accusation that the US president also reiterated donald trump.
In an effort to speed up the process, teams from the Red Cross and Egypt They participated on Sunday in the search and recovery of the remains, with the approval of the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Furthermore, an unnamed Israeli official told Hebrew media that members of Hamas access areas controlled by IDF in Loop to intensify the search. Images of the Qatari canal Al-Araby showed members of the so-called “Shadow Unit” of the military arm of Hamas next to a Red Cross vehicle in the area of al-Mawasinearly Rafahsector outside Israeli control.
The return of the bodies experienced a new boost after the warning of trump on Saturday, who stated that he would hold Hamas if the ceasefire is broken and announced that it would closely monitor the group’s movements in the next 48 hours to ensure that it resumes the delivery of remains.
Before the truce, Hamas held the bodies of 28 hostages dead. Since then, he has returned 15 and released to the 20 survivors of the 251 kidnapped on October 7, 2023, during the brutal attack that sparked the war in Loop.
Uncertainty over the recovery of the remains is not the only factor that endangers the fragile truce. On Sunday, the main negotiator of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayyaassured that the organization will not hand over its weapons as long as the Israeli “occupation” continues. The official indicated that “if the occupation ends, these weapons will be transferred to the State,” without clarifying which state entity he was referring to or specifying whether he was referring to the Israeli presence in Loop, West Bank or to State of Israel as a whole.
According to the terms of the agreement between Israel and Hamas mediated by USAthe Islamist group should disarm and withdraw from any government function in Loop during the second phase of the process. Israel has pointed out that the disarmament of Hamas It is a fundamental and indispensable condition to end the two-year war in the enclave.
In parallel, sources from the Ministry of Defense informed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Commission of the Knesset that the future International Stabilization Forcein charge of assuming the security of Loop after the withdrawal of the IDFwould include troops from Pakistan, Indonesia and Azerbaijan. According to the portal Ynet, Indonesia has publicly offered to send troops and Israeli officials indicated to The Times of Israel that Azerbaijan will also participate in the multinational operation. The incorporation of Pakistani soldiers had not been revealed until now.
