An informed source confirmed to Sky News Arabia that Hamas members entered the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, within the “Yellow Line” area controlled by the Israeli army, to search for the remains of Israelis there.
On Sunday, Israel received the bodies of 3 hostages held in Gaza, under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, which entered into force in the Strip on October 10.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, “Israel received, through the Red Cross, the coffins of three deceased hostages who were handed over to the Israeli army and Shin Bet forces inside the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas was still holding 48 hostages in Gaza, including 20 alive.
Under the ceasefire agreement, the movement is supposed to hand over the bodies of 28 hostages, of which it has so far returned 20 bodies that were held by it, stressing that it is difficult to locate and extract the remains amid the massive destruction in the Gaza Strip.
The delay in handing over the bodies of the hostages aroused dissatisfaction with the Israeli government.
On Sunday, the Hostage Families Forum, in a post on the “X” platform, called on Netanyahu to “act decisively” to ensure the immediate implementation of Hamas’ obligations under the agreement, and to return all deceased hostages to Israel.
The movement’s spokesman, Hazem Qassem, confirmed in a statement that the handover process that took place on Sunday “comes in the context of Hamas’s firm commitment to completing the exchange process and making every effort to hand over all the bodies as quickly as possible.”
