The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the terrorist group Hamas, stated this Wednesday (15) that they have already handed over to Israel the bodies of all the dead hostages “to which they had access”.
According to information from the American broadcaster CNN, the armed wing of Hamas claimed in a statement that the Palestinian group “complyed with what was agreed and handed over all the live hostages in its possession and the bodies to which it had access”.
According to the terms of the first phase of a peace plan presented by American President Donald Trump, accepted by both sides, Hamas should return all 20 live hostages and the bodies of the 28 dead who were in the Gaza Strip within 72 hours of the withdrawal of Israeli troops to the so-called Yellow Line, which occurred on Friday (10).
The 20 living hostages were released on Monday (13), but for now Hamas has handed over the remains of only seven of the 28 dead hostages.
In Wednesday’s statement, the terrorist group claimed that “significant efforts and special equipment” are needed to recover the bodies of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.
The delay in handing over the remains has angered the Israeli government, which accused Hamas of disrespecting the first phase of the peace agreement. Another factor of friction is that one of the bodies that the terrorist group handed over to the Red Cross on Tuesday (14) does not correspond to that of any hostage, according to an analysis by the Israeli forensic institute.
This Wednesday, a member of Hamas told Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera that the corpse was that of an Israeli soldier, who had been captured by the al-Qassam Brigades in May 2024.
Questioned by the EFE Agency, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) assured that “no soldier has been kidnapped since October 7”, 2023, the date of the Hamas attacks on Israeli territory that triggered the war in Gaza.
