Khaberni - Hamas has informed regional and international mediators that it will start on Tuesday to hand over four new bodies of Israeli prisoners, aiming to alleviate the rising tensions with Israel, which accused the movement of "violating the Gaza agreement" after it only handed over the remains of four hostages over the past few days.
An official involved in the operation confirmed to "Reuters" that the delivery of the bodies will take place this evening at ten o'clock, without revealing more details about the delivery mechanism or location.
This move comes after Israeli warnings that any failure to deliver the bodies might thwart the ceasefire agreement reached in the Gaza Strip. Israeli sources indicated that the mediators informed Tel Aviv that Hamas is making intensive efforts to fulfill its commitments, while the American envoy Steve Whitkov is working to calm the situation in cooperation with regional parties.
"Yisrael Hayom" channel mentioned that mediation efforts include a joint American – Israeli – Qatari – Egyptian force, whose task is to help identify the burial sites of the bodies and retrieve them from under the rubble.
For its part, Hamas said that the process of handing over the remains of all the hostages might take time due to difficulties in identifying some of the burial sites. The spokesperson for the movement, Hazem Qasim, explained that the extensive destruction in the Gaza Strip and difficulty accessing some locations make the retrieval process slow and complicated.
In turn, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that the handover of the bodies represents a "huge challenge," with more than 55 million tons of debris covering the streets of the Strip, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
In a direct response to what it described as "the breach," Israel closed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and reduced humanitarian aid to the sector, in a move that raised international concern about its implications on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Last week, Israel received only four bodies, despite the Gaza agreement stipulating the handover of all bodies of Israeli hostages held since the attack on October 7, 2023.
In a related context, the families of the Israeli hostages sent a message to the American envoy Steve Whitkov, urging him to urgently intervene to ensure the recovery of all the deceased bodies, noting that the delay threatens the agreement and increases the suffering of the families.
