On Tuesday, Israel announced that negotiations continue to complete the transfer of prisoner bodies from Hamas, after the identities of four bodies, received Monday evening under the exchange and Gaza ceasefire agreement, were confirmed.
اضافة اعلان
Under the agreement, Hamas is to hand over the bodies of 28 prisoners, most of them Israelis, while Israel will release the bodies of Palestinians from Gaza who were killed during the war.
Israeli Coordinator for Prisoner and Missing Persons Affairs, Gal Hirsch, stated: “Yesterday (Monday), four deceased hostages were returned to Israeli territory, and the identification process was completed overnight.”
In a message to the families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, he added: “The two individuals whose names are allowed to be published at this stage are Guy Eluz and Bivin Joshi.”
Hirsch continued in the message, published by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation: “Pressure on Hamas to continue and complete the return of the deceased remains ongoing and will increase.”
He revealed that “this issue was discussed yesterday during talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President (Donald) Trump during Trump’s brief visit to Israel.”
He added: “The matter is also being discussed with other international parties, and our negotiation team continues to work with mediators. I am in constant contact with our representatives in the talks, and we have been briefed on the details; the issue remains at the core of the agenda.”
Hirsch emphasized: “The mission is not yet complete. We are determined and committed, and we will not stop working until the whereabouts of all deceased hostages are identified and they are returned home.”
The Hamas-Israel agreement stipulates the formation of an international committee to help determine the burial sites of the Israeli prisoners killed in Gaza.
In this context, the Israeli army said on Tuesday: “After completing the identification process at the Forensic Medicine Center with the participation of the Israeli Police, army representatives informed the families of Israeli citizen Guy Eluz, Nepali citizen Bivin Joshi, and two other deceased whose names are not yet disclosed, of the return of the bodies for burial.”
The statement added: “According to intelligence available to the army, Hamas kidnapped Guy Eluz from the Nova music event after he was injured, and he died after not receiving the necessary medical treatment in their custody,” it claimed.
The army also claimed that “Nepali citizen Bivin Joshi, 23 years old, was kidnapped from a fortified mobile room in Kibbutz Alumim (near northern Gaza) by Hamas, and estimates indicate he was killed by militants in captivity during the early stages of the war.”
It concluded: “Hamas must fulfill its obligations under the agreement and make every effort to return all remaining hostages (24 still unaccounted for) to their families for proper burial.”
