Israeli authorities announced today that they had received the alleged remains of one of the last two hostages held in the Gaza Strip, which are expected to be examined by the National Institute of Legal Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.
“Police forces (…) are currently accompanying the remains of the dead hostage to the National Institute of Legal Medicine”, indicates a brief statement from the police.
“Israel received, through the Red Cross, elements found in the Gaza Strip”, indicated, for its part, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, without clearly saying that they were the remains of one of the last two hostages (an Israeli and a Thai), but specifying that the authorities were in contact with their respective families.
As part of the agreement reached last October, which allowed a ceasefire in Gaza, the Palestinian extremist group Hamas was also expected to hand over to Israel the bodies of two people taken hostage during the attack on October 7, 2023.
This is the first phase of a United States proposal for the future of the Gaza Strip.
Implementation of the agreement included a ceasefire that came into force on October 10 and the release of the 20 living hostages and the handover of 30 of the dead hostages.
In addition, Israel released around 2,000 Palestinians it had in the country’s prisons and handed over around 350 dead bodies of Palestinians it had held since the attacks and subsequent offensive against Gaza.
Even today, Qatar pressured Israel and Hamas to participate “very soon” in new rounds of negotiations for a peace agreement in the Palestinian territory, where a ceasefire has been in force since October 10.
“We consider that we must pressure the parties to move very, very soon to the second phase” of the plan aimed at ending the war, said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.
The diplomatic spokesman for Qatar, one of the mediating countries, added that the discussions will focus in particular on the presence of Hamas fighters in tunnels located in areas of the Gaza Strip controlled by Israel.
Hamas attributed the delay in handing over the remains to the difficulties of recovering the bodies in a devastated territory.
“As we have always said, the logistical situation in Gaza makes it difficult to achieve” the return of all the bodies, highlighted Majed al-Ansari, adding that this should not constitute an obstacle to negotiations on the second phase of the plan.
This phase, which has not yet been approved, includes the disarmament of Hamas, the creation of a transitional authority to govern the Gaza Strip and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
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