https://arab.news/487rv
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened late on Wednesday to resume fighting if Hamas did not honor the terms of the US-backed ceasefire that halted the war in Gaza
Jerusalem: An Israeli group campaigning for the return of all hostages held in Gaza on Thursday demanded that the government delay implementing the next stages of the truce if Hamas fails to return the remaining captives’ bodies.
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government to “immediately halt the implementation of any further stages of the agreement as long as Hamas continues to blatantly violate its obligations regarding the return of all hostages and the remains of the victims.”
According to the framework, outlined by US President Donald Trump, the next phases of the truce include offering amnesty to Hamas leaders who decommission their weapons and establishing the governance of post-war Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened late on Wednesday to resume fighting if Hamas did not honor the terms of the US-backed ceasefire that halted the war in Gaza.
It came after Hamas said it had returned all the bodies it could access, and that it would need special recovery equipment to reach the rest of the bodies promised under the agreement.
“As long as Hamas breaches the agreements and continues to hold 19 hostages, there can be no unilateral progress on Israel’s part,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
“Any political or military action that does not ensure their immediate return abandons the citizens of Israel,” it added.
Since Monday, under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, the Palestinian Islamist group has handed back 20 surviving hostages to Israel in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian hostages freed from Israeli jails.
It has also returned the remains of nine of 28 known deceased hostages — along with another body, which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.