This Wednesday (15), as part of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas handed over two more bodies of Israeli hostages to Israel. Last Monday (13), the group released 20.
The remains of hostages were handed over to the Red Cross on Tuesday afternoon. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the coffins are being transported back to the country.
The identified hostages are: Tamir Nimrodi, 20 years old; Eitan Levy, 53; Uriel Baruch, 35; Guy Illouz, 26; Yossi Sharabi, 53; Bipin Joshi, 22; and Daniel Peretz, 22.
As of yesterday, Hamas had returned the bodies of seven of the 28 dead hostages. In total, eight bodies were handed over, but Israeli authorities were able to identify only seven of them. According to medical authorities, the eighth body delivered does not correspond to any of the hostages whose remains were expected in Palestinian territory.
The measures were adopted after authorities concluded that Hamas had not demonstrated concrete efforts to return the bodies of the hostages. The reopening of the Rafah crossing, scheduled to take place in the coming days as part of the first phase of the truce, has been suspended. However, authorities have not yet announced how long this suspension will last.
The families of the hostages express growing concern about the return of the bodies. The Forum on Hostages and Missing Families sent a letter to US special envoy Steve Witkoff expressing concern about the situation.
“What we feared is happening before our eyes,” said the group, which called on the US representative to take all possible measures and pressure Hamas to fulfill its part of the agreement.
According to the Red Cross Committee, the return of the bodies will still take some time. The organization described the mission as an “enormous challenge” due to the difficulties faced in locating the remains among the rubble in Gaza. The widespread destruction in the region has hampered search efforts, making the process slow and complex for the teams involved.
