Families of missing Israeli hostages demand pause in Gaza truce plan
The families of Israeli hostages on Monday demanded that the next steps in the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire be put on hold until Hamas returns the remaining bodies of dead captives.
"Hamas knows exactly where every one of the deceased hostages is held. Two weeks have passed since the deadline set in the agreement for the return of all 48 hostages, yet 13 remain in Hamas captivity," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
"The families urge the Government of Israel, the United States administration and the mediators not to advance to the next phase of the agreement until Hamas fulfills all of its obligations and returns every hostage to Israel."
Hamas expanded its search for bodies of hostages in the Gaza Strip, a day after Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help retrieve them.
Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, Hamas is expected to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. Israel has agreed to return 15 bodies of Palestinians for each one.
Children and others watched the Egyptian equipment claw through the sand near badly damaged buildings in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Hamas has returned the remains of 15 hostages but hasn't handed over any in five days. Israel has returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians, many of them unidentified.
More complicated steps lie ahead under the ceasefire plan, including the disarming of Hamas and the postwar governance of famine-stricken Gaza, where the U.N. and partners continue to urge Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid.
International media have been barred from Gaza aside from brief visits with Israel's military, and Israel on Sunday said that hadn't changed.
Trump watches 48-hour period ‘very closely’
Hamas' chief in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group started searching new areas for bodies of the remaining 13 hostages, according to comments the group shared Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Saturday he was “watching very closely” to ensure Hamas returns more bodies in the next 48 hours. “Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not,” he wrote on social media.
Hamas has repeatedly said efforts to retrieve remains face challenges because of the massive destruction.
An Egyptian team with equipment including an excavator and bulldozers entered Gaza on Saturday as part of mediators' efforts to shore up the ceasefire, two Egyptian officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Source: Agence France Presse
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