The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that one of the bodies returned by Hamas is not a hostage.
After the last 20 living hostages were released by Hamas, four bodies of dead hostages were returned Monday, followed by another four Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. However, one of the four Tuesday was not a hostage, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.
Israel has been waiting for the return of the bodies of 28 deceased hostages in total.
The IDF said that after the “examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.” It is unclear whose body it was.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Wednesday that Hamas must fulfill the requirements in the ceasefire deal regarding the return of the hostages’ bodies.
“We will not compromise on this and will not stop our efforts until we return the last deceased hostage, until the last one,” Netanyahu said.
The U.S.-proposed ceasefire plan requires all hostages, living and dead, to be handed over by Monday. However, if that didn’t occur, then Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand over all of them as soon as possible.
During a previous ceasefire earlier this year, Hamas had returned a body that it said was an Israeli woman, Shiri Bibas. However, it was a Palestinian woman. The next day, Bibas’ body was returned and positively identified.
Both Hamas and the Red Cross have said that recovering the bodies of dead hostages was a challenge because of the destruction of Gaza, and Hamas has told ceasefire mediators that some are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem said Wednesday that the group was working to return the bodies of the hostages as agreed in the ceasefire deal. He accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with shootings on Tuesday in Gaza City and Rafah.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the IDF is operating along the deployment lines drawn in the deal and warned that anyone approaching the lines will be targeted, which happened on Tuesday with several militants.
Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Monday, and is also handing over the bodies of Palestinians under the ceasefire. On Wednesday, forensic experts in Gaza started identifying 45 bodies of Palestinians that Israel handed over through the Red Cross without identification. Israel is expected to transfer more bodies, but the total number has not been announced.
