MORE HOSTAGE BODIES RETURNED
Meanwhile, under the Trump-brokered ceasefire plan, Israel and Hamas are continuing to exchange human remains alongside earlier prisoner swaps.
The deal saw the last 20 surviving hostages freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
So far, Hamas has handed back the remains of seven of 28 known deceased hostages, as well as an eighth body Israel says was not that of a hostage.
Late on Wednesday, the Israeli military said the Red Cross had collected two additional coffins in northern Gaza, bringing the total number of Israeli bodies recovered to nine. Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed it had handed over two more bodies but warned they would be the last “for now.”
“The Resistance has fulfilled its commitment to the agreement by handing over all living Israeli prisoners in its custody, as well as the corpses it could access,” the group said in a statement. “As for the remaining corpses, it requires extensive efforts and special equipment for their retrieval.”
The warning is expected to increase domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces growing calls from far-right allies to link the flow of aid into Gaza to the recovery of Israeli bodies.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has threatened to cut off supplies if Hamas fails to return the remains of Israeli soldiers still held in the territory.
Source: CNA
