DaysofPal- Hamas has handed over the bodies of two more deceased Israeli captives from Gaza, according to a statement released by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The announcement comes as Hamas accuses Israel of continuing to violate the terms of a recently established ceasefire.
“Israel has received the bodies of two captives via the Red Cross,” Netanyahu’s office stated early Sunday on social media platform X. The remains were delivered to Israeli security forces stationed inside Gaza.
The families of the captives have been informed, and the bodies were transferred to Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine for identification, the statement added.
“The mission to bring our captives home continues and will not end until the last one is returned,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The Israeli military later confirmed that one of the bodies was identified as 54-year-old Ronen Tomi Engel, who was killed during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and taken into Gaza. Identification is still underway for the second body.
With this handover on Saturday evening, Hamas has now returned 12 of the 28 known Israeli captive bodies in Gaza—one of Israel’s key demands in the ceasefire deal agreed to last week, aimed at ending the two-year-long war.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas was expected to return all living and deceased Israeli captives within 72 hours of signing. In return, Israel would release the remains of 360 Palestinians and approximately 2,000 prisoners.
However, Hamas claims that Israel’s ongoing military operations and control over certain parts of Gaza, as well as the widespread destruction across the enclave, have delayed the recovery and transfer of the remaining bodies.
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