Hamas hands over remains of another captive amid Israeli ceasefire violations
Hamas hands over remains of another captive amid Israeli ceasefire violations
M.U.H
28/10/202519
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has handed over the remains of another Israeli captive to the Red Cross as a drone of the occupying entity strikes the besieged Gaza Strip and kills two Palestinians.
The handover occurred on Monday, and the Red Cross transported the remains to Israeli troops in Gaza, hours after an Israeli drone struck a locality in the vicinity of Khan Yunis, killing two Palestinians, Al Jazeera reported.
Under a ceasefire deal between Hamas and the Tel Aviv regime that began on October 10, Hamas agreed to return the bodies of 28 dead captives, of which 16 have now been delivered. Twenty surviving captives were released on October 13 as part of the same truce.
Families of the captives have urged Israel to halt the ceasefire’s next phase until all remains are recovered.
Hamas says some remains are difficult to locate due to massive destruction in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
There were “challenges” in locating the captives’ bodies because “the occupation has altered the terrain of Gaza,” said Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya on Saturday, stressing that some of those who buried the bodies had been killed during the war, while others had forgotten the burial locations.
Israel has now allowed an Egyptian team to assist with recovery efforts using excavators and trucks.
In contrast to the Hamas' pledge to remain committed to the ceasefire, Israel has continuously violated it, intermittently striking several locations across the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s Health Ministry said eight Palestinians were killed and 13 wounded in the past 48 hours, raising the total death toll since October 7, 2023 to more than 68,500, while nearly 170,400 others have been injured since the onset of the genocidal war.
The United States defended Israel’s latest deadly strike, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming that it targeted an imminent threat from Islamic Jihad and did not violate the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire.
According to the UN, some 473,000 people have returned to the north to find widespread devastation and acute shortages of essentials.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Younis al-Khatib, warned of a long-term mental health crisis, echoed by the World Health Organization, which said over one million Palestinians now need psychological support.
“Rebuilding human beings is more difficult than rebuilding destroyed homes,” Khatib said during meetings with Norway’s prime minister and foreign minister in Oslo.
UNICEF, for its part, also reported that almost all children in Gaza require mental health care.
According to the UN children's agency, Gaza has been “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child” over the last two years.
“A classroom of children was killed every single day for two years in this conflict, and the scars of what the children have endured will last for many, many years to come,” said Tess Ingram, the group’s spokesperson in Gaza.
