This Wednesday’s delivery appears after return, the night beforefrom the body of another hostage, who was identified as Israeli-American Itay Chen.
The body of an alleged hostage was handed over this Wednesday to the Red Cross by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which had previously announced its discovery in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said.
“According to information from the Red Cross, the urn of a deceased hostage has been handed over to its custody and is on its way to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops in Gaza,” the Israeli military said on the social network X.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, had indicated in a statement released this Wednesday that the body was found during excavations in the Shujaiya neighborhoodeast of Gaza City.
This area is now part of the so-called Yellow Line, area to which Israeli troops withdrew in the first phase of the ceasefire in force in the territory since October 10th.
The protocol foresees that the Islamists deliver the ballot box to the Red Cross in the Palestinian enclave, which, in turn, sends it to the Israeli army.
Finally, forensic analyzes will be carried out at the Israel National Center for Forensic Medicine to determine whether the body corresponds to any of the seven hostages still to be returned under the truce.
The seven hostages in question there are five Israeli citizens, a Tanzanian student and a Thai farmer kidnapped near the Be’eri ‘kibbutz’ (community), in the attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, which triggered the war in the Palestinian enclave.
Since the ceasefire came into force, the Palestinian group has reported difficulties in locating the bodies of the hostages who remain in the territory due to the large amount of rubble piled up after two years of conflict and the lack of access to heavy machinery.
Israel, however, accuses the Islamists of deliberately delaying the delivery of these bodies to avoid discussing its disarmament, an issue that should be debated with international mediators when negotiations for the second phase of the agreement resume.
Within the scope of understanding, 20 hostages were returned alive and 21 dead until this Wednesday’s handover, in exchange for almost two thousand Palestinian prisoners and 285 bodies that were in Israel’s possession.
