The body of another hostage in the Gaza Strip was handed over this Monday by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to the Red Cross. At the beginning of the evening he was being transported to Israel, the Israeli Government reported.
In a statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the body was handed over to the Army and the Shin Bet (intelligence service) in the Gaza Strip. The delivery had been announced by the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, at 8 pm local time (6 pm in Lisbon). The brigades reported having exhumed the body in the territory on Sunday.
As with previous renditions, al-Qassam Brigades did not specify the identity of the hostage. “All families of the missing hostages have been informed and we are with them at this difficult time. Efforts to recover our hostages continue and will not cease until the last one is recovered,” the prime minister’s statement added. The Israeli leader also called for “respect for the privacy of families” and for the dissemination of “rumors and unofficial information” to be avoided.
The ceasefire agreement between the parties, in force since October 10, provides that Hamas returns the body to the Red Cross, which in turn takes it to the Israeli Army, which is responsible for transporting it to the Abu Kabir Medical Center, in Jaffa (south of Tel Aviv). As part of the ceasefire, Hamas handed over the 20 live hostages it held in its possession a week ago, in exchange for almost two thousand Palestinian prisoners.
However, until today’s transfer, it had only returned 12 of the 28 dead hostages, citing difficulties in locating the bodies among the territory’s rubble. At this stage, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the massive entry of humanitarian aid were also agreed.
The next stage envisages the disarmament of Hamas and the continuation of the Israeli withdrawal from the enclave.
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