The Israeli military has said one of the bodies handed over by Hamas on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who were held in Gaza.
Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday evening to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, following the first four on Monday – when the last 20 living hostages were released.
The military said that “following the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.
The handover came after an Israeli military agency warned it would slash aid deliveries to Gaza as the militant group was not returning the remains as agreed.
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By Monday night, Hamas had released four bodies, and four more followed late on Tuesday.
Of that second group of four bodies, three were identified, a group that represents many of their families said on Wednesday.
The Hostages Family Forum said the three were Uriel Baruch, Tamir Nimrodi and Eitan Levi.
Mr Baruch was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Mr Nimrodi, who had been serving with the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza, was taken by militants from the Erez border crossing.
The forum says Mr Levi was kidnapped while driving a friend to Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas attack.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu demanded that Hamas fulfil the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal – introduced by US president Donald Trump – about the return of the hostages’ bodies.
“We will not compromise on this and will not stop our efforts until we return the last deceased hostage, until the last one,” he said.
The US-proposed ceasefire plan had called for all hostages – living and dead – to be handed over by a deadline that expired on Monday. But under the deal if that did not happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand over all as soon as possible.
Hazem Kassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday that the group was working to return the bodies of the hostages as agreed in the ceasefire deal.
He accused Israel of violating the deal with shootings on Tuesday in eastern Gaza City and the territory’s southern city of Rafah.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Wednesday the military is operating along the deployment lines laid out in the deal and warned that anyone approaching the deployment line will be targeted – as had happened on Tuesday with several alleged militants.
On Monday, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages in Gaza and Palestinians rejoiced at Israel’s release of some 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire’s first phase.
But families of hostages and their supporters expressed dismay that the 28 dead hostages were not all returned.
Hamas and the Red Cross have said that recovering the remains of dead hostages was a challenge because of Gaza’s vast destruction, and Hamas told mediators of the deal that some are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.
The entrance of humanitarian aid to Gaza was paused for the past two days because of the prisoner and hostage exchange on Monday and a Jewish holiday on Tuesday.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel and medical supplies were bound for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while Israel and Hamas argue over the slow return of hostages’ bodies.
The Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza, Cogat (Co-ordination of Government Activities in the Territories), notified humanitarian organisations on Tuesday that it would allow into Gaza only half of the 600 daily aid trucks called for under the deal.
It was not immediately clear whether it was following through on the threat. Cogat declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday. – AP
