Israel hands over bodies of 45 Palestinians
Israel has transferred the bodies of 45 Palestinians to the Gaza Strip, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Tuesday, saying they had assisted in the handover to employees of the Hamas-controlled authorities.
She said the step took place on Monday, a day after the handover of the remains of three Israeli hostages.
Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement had agreed on the handover of bodies as part of the ceasefire agreement in October.
According to the agreement, for each Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel must hand over the remains of 15 deceased Gaza residents.
The exact circumstances of the Palestinians’ deaths are not known. It is suspected that Israel stored their bodies in a military camp.
Hamas had previously released all remaining living hostages on October 13 as part of the Gaza ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The handover of the deceased hostages is proceeding more slowly than agreed.
According to Israeli sources, the bodies of eight hostages are still in the Gaza Strip. Seven of them were abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
These include five Israelis – one of whom also holds German citizenship – as well as two foreigners from Thailand and Tanzania. Additionally, Israel is trying to recover the remains of an Israeli soldier. The soldier’s body was abducted in 2014.
