Hamas says it is committed to Gaza truce and returning hostage remains

JERUSALEM – Hamas insisted it was committed to returning all the hostage remains
still unaccounted for under Gaza’s ruins, as a Turkish official said specialists dispatched to help find bodies were awaiting Israel’s authorisation to enter.

Responding to a call from Hamas for help in locating the bodies of the 19 hostages buried under the rubble alongside an untold number of Palestinians, Ankara sent specialists to help in the search.

A Turkish official told AFP on Oct 17 that dozens of disaster response specialists were at the Egyptian side of the border awaiting a green light from the Israeli government to enter the war-shattered Palestinian territory.

The 81-member team from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority is equipped with specialised search-and-rescue tools, including life-detection devices and trained search dogs. “It remains unclear when Israel will allow the Turkish team to enter Gaza,” the official said.

Under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, Hamas returned 20 surviving hostages and the remains of nine of 28 known deceased hostages – along with another body, which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

In exchange, Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and halted the military campaign that it launched in Gaza after the attack by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023.

A Hamas source told AFP the Turkish delegation is expected to enter Gaza by Oct 19.

The Turkish official noted that the recovery team’s complicated mission included locating the bodies of both Palestinians and hostages.

“May require some time”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Oct 16 his determination to “secure the return of all hostages” after his defence minister warned that the military would restart the conflict if Hamas failed to do so.

Hamas later insisted on “its commitment to the agreement and its implementation, including its keenness to hand over all remaining corpses”.

But it said the process “may require some time as some of these corpses were buried in tunnels destroyed by the occupation, while others remain under the rubble of buildings it bombed and demolished”.

The families of the dead have fumed at Hamas’ inability to deliver their loved ones’ remains
.

The main campaign group advocating for the hostages’ families has demanded that Israel “immediately halt the implementation of any further stages of the agreement as long as Hamas continues to blatantly violate its obligations”.

Mr Trump appeared on Oct 15 to call for patience when it came to the bodies’ return, insisting that Hamas was “actually digging” for hostages’ remains.

The ceasefire deal has so far seen the war grind to a halt after two years of agony for the hostages’ families, and constant bombardment and hunger for Gazans.

The UN’s World Food Programme said on Oct 17 it had been able to move close to 3,000 tonnes of food supplies into Gaza since the ceasefire took hold.

But it cautioned that it would take time to reverse the famine in the Gaza Strip, saying all crossings needed to be opened to “flood Gaza with food”.

Mr Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza calls for renewed aid provision, with international organisations eagerly awaiting the reopening of southern Gaza’s strategic Rafah crossing. The next phases of the truce should also include the disarmament of Hamas, the offer of amnesty to Hamas leaders who decommission their weapons and establishing the governance of post-war Gaza.

“Better than living on the street”

The families of the surviving hostages have been able to rejoice in their return after two long years. Others have had to endure the agony of burying the returned remains of their loved ones.

Mourners clutching Israeli flags lined the streets in Rishon Lezion on Oct 17 for the funeral convoy of Ms Inbar Hayman, whose body was returned on Oct 15.

For many in Gaza, while there was relief that the bombing had stopped, the road to recovery felt impossible as people began clearing the rubble from their destroyed homes.

“I’m right under the threat of death. It could collapse at any moment,” said Mr Ahmad Saleh Sbeih, a Gaza City resident.

“But there is no choice. This is better than living on the street.”

The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Based on official Israeli figures, Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. AFP