Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza’s bombed-out rubble.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again demanded that Hamas “uphold its commitments” and return the last five bodies.
“We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all of the deceased hostages, every last one of them,” it said.
Mostly civilians
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The Israeli military’s retaliatory campaign has since killed 69,169 Palestinians, again mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN, does not specify the number of fighters killed within this total.
According to the Israeli army, 479 soldiers have been killed in the campaign in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive at the end of October 2023.
Source: CNA
