Hamas failed to met the 72-hour deadline, which expired on Monday at noon, to release all of the the remaining deceased hostages’ remains — a crucial part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Israel has now set the end of day Tuesday for Hamas to share progress on the return of the remaining 24 dead hostages, according to The Guardian. Already, Israel has received coffins containing the remains of four alleged hostages, with two of the bodies being confirmed as deceased hostages Guy Iluz and Bipin Joshi. The other two remains are still being verified. Those remains are believed to belong to Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Perez. In the past, Hamas has sent back bodies which did not belong to any of the hostages taken on October 7, 2023.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Hamas could be subjected to serious consequences for failing to uphold their end of the agreement.
The Israeli government has been compliant in the ceasefire agreement and has released nearly 2,000 Palestinians prisoners.
While the Israeli government believes that Hamas is intentionally withholding the release of the bodies; mediators suggest that the terrorist group is struggling to locate the bodies, with many of the remains suspected to be lost in the rubble of buildings blown up during the Gaza War.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is assisting in the efforts to locate the remaining 24 hostages’ bodies, calling the task more difficult than releasing the living hostages in an interview with The Guardian.
“That’s an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released. That’s a massive challenge,” said the ICRC’s spokesperson Christian Cardon. “I think that there is clearly a risk that that will take much more time. What are we telling the parties is that that should be their top priority.”
Cardon said locating the remaining bodies could take weeks and that some of the remains may be lost forever. Hamas told mediators that it has lost track of at least two of the hostages’ remains.
