Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Israel said on Thursday it had received the bodies of two hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which in turn had obtained them from Hamas as part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The remains were transferred to Israeli authorities for forensic identification before families are officially notified.
“The State of Israel, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, has received the bodies of two hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The remains have been handed over to the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency inside Gaza, and will be transported to a forensic institute for identification.”
The return of the two bodies comes within the framework of a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, which came into effect on October 10. Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, had earlier announced its intention to hand over the remains.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas has so far returned 15 of the 28 bodies of hostages believed to have died during the war. Late Monday, the group handed over what it said was the sixteenth body, though Israeli authorities later said that some remains belonged to a hostage whose body had already been recovered.
The October 30 transfer follows intense fighting earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike targeting what it described as a weapons depot in northern Gaza, despite reaffirming the ceasefire after accusing Hamas of violating its terms. The strike killed two people, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. Earlier overnight raids were far deadlier, leaving at least 104 Palestinians dead, including 46 children the highest toll since the truce began, according to the same source.
The ceasefire deal has remained fragile amid sporadic exchanges of fire. Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas was to release 20 living hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of approximately 2,000 Palestinian detainees. Israel accuses Hamas of breaching the agreement by delaying the handover of bodies, while Hamas says extensive destruction in Gaza has made locating and recovering remains difficult. The group claims many of the hostages’ bodies lie buried beneath rubble in areas inaccessible due to ongoing bombardment and a lack of heavy equipment.
Hamas, an Islamist movement designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and other countries, captured 251 people during its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Most were later freed, rescued, or their remains recovered before the latest truce.
On Thursday, witnesses in Gaza reported at least ten Israeli airstrikes east of Khan Younis in the south, and tank shelling on the outskirts of Gaza City in the north. No immediate casualties were reported. The Israeli army said the strikes were “precise” and targeted “terrorist infrastructure posing threats to forces” in areas under Israeli control.
Eighteen months into the war, Gaza remains devastated. The conflict sparked by Hamas’s surprise attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel has displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times.
The Israeli military campaign has killed at least 68,643 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which are considered credible by the United Nations. Entire neighborhoods lie in ruins, with many residents refusing to return to their homes for fear of renewed displacement.
As Israel continues to recover the remains of its citizens and Hamas struggles to maintain control over a shattered territory, the fragile ceasefire remains on a knife’s edge a brief pause in a war that has already exacted an unbearable human cost.
