BBC Photo: Gaza destroyed by Israel
Source : BBC News
DST News: Israel has received a coffin from Gaza, transferred through the Red Cross, which Hamas claims contains the body of another Israeli hostage who died while in captivity.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), troops transported the coffin from Gaza into Israel, where forensic tests are being conducted to confirm the identity of the remains. If verified, this would mark the 16th body returned by Hamas out of the 28 deceased hostages it was holding before a ceasefire began two weeks ago.
The latest handover followed an arrangement that allowed a Hamas representative to enter an area of Gaza now under Israeli military control to assist Red Cross and Egyptian search teams in locating the remaining bodies.
Israel has accused Hamas of breaching the US-, Egypt-, Qatar-, and Turkey-brokered ceasefire deal, alleging that the group has failed to return all the bodies of the hostages. Hamas, however, insists it remains committed to the agreement but says it needs help recovering bodies buried beneath rubble from two years of war.
Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said Monday that the Red Cross, Egyptian personnel, and a Hamas member had been permitted to cross into Gaza “under close IDF supervision” to conduct the searches. She added that Egypt was bringing in additional heavy equipment, including excavators and trucks, to assist the recovery operation.
All 20 living Israeli hostages were freed shortly after the ceasefire took effect on 10 October, as part of a major exchange deal involving the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza. Israel also returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for 13 Israeli and two foreign hostages—one Thai and one Nepalese—who had previously been repatriated.
Before the most recent handover, 11 of the remaining dead hostages were Israeli citizens, while the others included a Tanzanian and a Thai national. “Hamas knows where the hostages’ bodies are, and they must be returned home,” Bedrosian stressed.
Excavation efforts were filmed on Monday in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where machinery continued digging through the rubble in search of remains.
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has urged the Israeli government, the United States, and international mediators to delay the next phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan until Hamas fulfills its obligations under the ceasefire.
Their demand came amid reports that Washington was pushing to move forward with the next stage of the agreement, even though not all the hostages’ bodies have been found.
Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group faces “serious challenges” locating remains because Israeli operations have drastically altered Gaza’s terrain, adding that some of those who initially buried the bodies had since been killed or no longer remember the burial sites.
All but one of the remaining dead hostages in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when around 1,200 people were killed. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has since caused more than 68,500 deaths, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
