Hamas has reaffirmed its commitment to the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which includes a pledge to hand over the remains of all dead Israeli hostages.
The Palestinian resistance group’s statement, released in the early hours of Friday, said some bodies were buried in tunnels that were later destroyed by Israel, and heavy machinery is required to dig through rubble to retrieve them.
The group also criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his call to cut aid to Gaza, saying it was an attempt to manipulate humanitarian needs “for political gains”.
The ceasefire plan introduced by Trump had called for all hostages— living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired Monday. But under the deal, if that didn’t happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.
Hamas has assured the US through intermediaries that it’s working to return dead hostages. American officials say retrieval of the bodies is hampered by the scope of the devastation in the territory, coupled with the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance.
The Palestinian resistance group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.
On Wednesday, Hamas handed over the remains of two more hostages shortly after Israeli forces said that one of the eight bodies previously handed over wasn’t that of a hostage. Israel says it awaits, in total, the return of the bodies of 28 hostages.
Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday. In exchange, Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has also returned to Gaza the bodies of 90 Palestinians for burial. Israel is expected to turn over more bodies, though officials have not said how many are in its custody or how many will be returned.
It is unclear whether the remains belong to Palestinians who died or were killed in Israeli custody or were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops.
A Palestinian forensics team examining the remains said some of the bodies showed signs of torture.
Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
