Hamas staged a fake recovery of a hostage’s body in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli soldiers who observed the event; and also returned a coffin to Israel Monday that contained more remains of a previously recovered hostage.
The reports of gruesome efforts at deception came as Hamas continues to delay the return of 13 hostage bodies that have not yet been provided to Israel. Under the ceasefire deal, all 28 were to be returned.
The Israeli government says that Hamas knows where all of the remaining bodies are, and that it is pretending not to be able to find them in order to regain leverage in negotiations over disarming.
Nevertheless, Israel has allowed Egyptian teams to enter Gaza to assist with a search-and-recovery effort, and has also reportedly allowed Hamas to conduct such efforts in areas of Gaza controlled by the Israeli military.
President Donald Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social that he was giving Hamas 48 hours to speed up its efforts.
On Monday, shortly before that deadline expired, news came that one body was to be returned to Israel. Hamas sent a coffin to the Red Cross, which delivered it to Israeli soldiers, who took it back to Israel for identification.
The Times of Israel reported Tuesday that the remains inside the coffin were in fact additional remains from a previously returned body: “The remains do not belong to any of the 13 hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip,” it reported.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening his government to decide on a response.
Separately, the Times of Israel reported that Hamas had faked the recovery of a hostage’s body:
Channel 12 news and Army Radio both cite reservists stationed in eastern Gaza City as saying that Hamas operatives carried out digging works in the area, before bringing out a body from a nearby building and placing it in the hole.
Hamas then covered the body in dirt and called the Red Cross to watch them “uncover” it, they say.
Read the full article here