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JERUSALEM: Israel said on Saturday that three bodies it received from Gaza the night before were not hostages held in the Palestinian territory, as a Hamas security source reported fresh strikes in the south.
Despite occasional flare-ups, and the murder of over 100 Palestinians in Israeli strikes, a fragile truce has been "holding" in Gaza since October 10, based on a US-brokered deal centered on the return of all Israeli hostages, both living and dead.
Israel’s military told AFP that a forensic analysis revealed that three bodies it received via the Red Cross on Friday were not those of any of the deceased captives still to be handed over as part of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas’s armed wing said Saturday that it had handed over bodies it had not positively identified, alleging Israel had declined its offer to provide samples for testing and “demanded the bodies for examination.”
“We handed them over to preempt any enemy claims,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said.
After the start of the truce, Hamas returned the 20 surviving hostages still in its custody and began the process of returning the remains of the dead.
Of the 17 bodies returned since the start of the ceasefire, 15 were Israelis, one was Thai and one was Nepalese.
Hamas has also returned another unidentified body that had not been listed among the 28 missing, as well as the partial remains of a deceased Israeli hostage who had already been recovered early in the war.
That incident drew outrage in Israel, which said the group had violated the agreement by returning the partial remains rather than the body of another hostage.
Israel has accused Hamas of not returning the dead hostages quickly enough, but the Palestinian group says it will take time to locate remains buried in Gaza’s ruins.
In its statement Saturday, the Al-Qassam Brigades called on mediators and the Red Cross to provide the “necessary equipment and personnel to work on recovering all the bodies simultaneously.”
- ‘Warships opened fire’ -
Hamas and Israel, meanwhile, have traded accusations of breaking the ceasefire.
A Hamas security source told AFP on Saturday that Israel had carried out several air strikes in the south at dawn, and that “warships opened fire toward the shores of Khan Yunis.”
Earlier in the week, the Israeli military launched its deadliest night of bombing since the truce after one of its soldiers was killed in south Gaza, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting more than 100 people killed.
Hamas denied it had anything to do with the attack, and Israel later said it had begun “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire.”
Father-of-five Hisham Al-Bardai, who recently returned to his home in north Gaza’s Jabalia camp, told AFP Saturday that he had heard “gunfire several times from the occupation forces” during the night.
“The truce has begun, but the war hasn’t ended, and (Israel)’s policy of starvation continues,” he said, referring to Israel’s strict blockade on the entry of supplies into Gaza, which it eased after the ceasefire went into effect.
Like many Gazans who moved back to neighborhoods previously under evacuation orders, Bardai found a collapsed building where his home once stood.
“Despite the widespread destruction in Jabalia camp, people are starting to return, even though the situation is dangerous,” the 37-year-old said.
- ‘No hope for life’ -
The implementation of the later stages of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan has yet to be agreed, particularly as it concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority and deploying an international stabilization force.
The force is expected to be drawn from a coalition of mainly Arab and Muslim nations, and would train and support vetted Palestinian police, with backing from Egypt and Jordan, as well as secure border areas and prevent weapons smuggling.
The foreign ministers of Jordan and Germany insisted on Saturday at a conference in Bahrain that the international force have the blessing of the United Nations.
“We all agree that in order for that stabilization force to be able to be effective in getting the job done, it has to have a Security Council mandate,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.
His German counterpart Johann Wadephul said such a mandate would be of the “utmost importance to those countries who might be willing to send troops to Gaza, and for the Palestinians.”
Many Gazans remain displaced and living in tents or makeshift shelters.
Sumaya Daloul, a 27-year-old living in a tent with her parents and siblings in Gaza City, said she did not have much hope for the future.
“I expect the suffering in Gaza to continue for years. There’s no hope for life to return, even partially,” she told AFP.