The handover took place on Monday, hours after an Israeli drone struck an area near Khan Yunis, killing two Palestinians, with the Red Cross transferring the remains to Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
Under the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Tel Aviv regime that began on October 10, Hamas agreed to return the bodies of 28 dead prisoners, 16 of whom have now been handed over. As part of the same cease-fire agreement, 20 surviving prisoners were released on October 13.
Families of prisoners of war have called on Israel to halt the next phase of the ceasefire until all bodies have been recovered.
Hamas said some remains were difficult to find due to the extensive destruction in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Haya said on Saturday that there were “difficulties” in locating the bodies of prisoners of war because “the topography of Gaza has changed due to the occupation,” stressing that some of those who buried the bodies had died during the war and some had forgotten where they were buried.
Israel is now allowing Egyptian teams to use excavators and trucks to assist in reconstruction efforts.
In contrast to Hamas’ pledge to uphold the ceasefire, Israel has intermittently broken the ceasefire and intermittently attacked several locations in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Health Ministry announced that eight Palestinians were killed and 13 injured in the past 48 hours, bringing the total death toll since October 7, 2023 to more than 68,500 and nearly 170,400 injured since the start of the genocidal war.
The United States has defended Israel’s deadly attack, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it targeted an immediate threat from Islamic Jihad and was not a violation of the ceasefire.
MNA