An Israeli military source said Friday the army had received three unidentified bodies from the Gaza Strip via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), but it does not believe they belong to hostages.
“We still don’t know if the bodies being returned are hostages’ bodies,” the Israeli military source told AFP, confirming earlier reports that Israeli authorities received three bodies from the Red Cross.
“From our intel we don’t think they are hostages’ bodies, and we transferred them to the forensic research laboratory”, to confirm their identities, the source added.
Earlier Friday, the ICRC said in a statement that its teams “tonight facilitated the transfer of three deceased to Israeli authorities”.
“This was done at the request of the parties, and with their agreement,” it added.
The Palestinian militants have so far returned the remains of 17 of the 28 deceased hostages that Hamas had agreed to hand over as part of a US-brokered truce deal with Israel, not including Friday’s three bodies.
After the start of this month’s ceasefire, Hamas returned the 20 surviving captives still in its custody and began the process of returning the bodies of the dead hostages.
Israel accuses Hamas of reneging on the deal by not returning them quickly enough, but the Palestinian group says it will take time to locate remains buried in Gaza’s ruins.
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