Israel warns it may restart Gaza offensive if Hamas doesn't return all hostage remains
Assalamu alaikum - quick update and my thoughts. Israel’s defence minister warned this week that fighting could start again if Hamas does not follow a US-backed ceasefire commitment to return the bodies of all captives held in Gaza. The warning came after Hamas handed over the remains of two more people and said it has recovered all the bodies it could reach.
Israel’s office said that if Hamas won’t honour the deal, Israel - with US coordination - will resume operations to try to defeat Hamas and change the situation in Gaza. Hamas had already handed over seven of 28 dead hostages, plus another body Israel says was not a captive. The group says it needs special equipment to continue searching and that it has given back every body it could find.
The Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades said they kept their side of the agreement by releasing all living prisoners in their custody and returning the corpses they were able to access, and that retrieving the rest will take extensive effort and specialised gear. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un - may Allah have mercy on all the deceased.
US advisers later said Hamas has expressed an intention to follow through with the deal, and a US official told reporters they want to see the agreement completed. After the two latest bodies were handed over, the US president described the search as gruesome, saying teams were digging through rubble and tunnels to find remains.
Mediators and Hamas warned it might take weeks to locate all the bodies because of the destruction in Gaza. There were talks about possibly sending teams to help with searches. Meanwhile, Israel has linked the return of hostages to the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid. UN humanitarian officials urged Israel to open all crossings into Gaza immediately.
Trucks were seen at the Rafah crossing from Egypt but could not enter the enclave because of ongoing closures. May Allah ease the suffering of civilians and grant safety to those affected.
https://www.thenationalnews.co