Israeli authorities are reportedly making preparations for a possible scenario in which Hamas transfers human remains that cannot be definitively confirmed as belonging to Israeli hostages. Reports in the Israeli media on Friday night indicated that the government and the IDF are on alert for such a development.
According to the IDF, there is concern that some of the remains Hamas intends to hand over may belong to hostages whose bodies have already been brought back to Israel. Officials remain uncertain whether the handover could take place as early as Friday night or sometime afterward.
Just a day earlier, Hamas returned the bodies of two hostages, Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, whose remains were received by Israel following coordination with the Red Cross. Both men had been among the Israelis abducted into Gaza during the October 7 attacks.
The terrorist group continues to hold the bodies of eleven additional hostages inside the Gaza Strip, leaving their families in painful suspense nearly thirteen months after their abduction.
There is precedent for Hamas providing misleading information about returned remains. In a previous incident, the group claimed to have handed over the body of a hostage, but it was later discovered that the remains actually belonged to Ofir Sarfati, whose body had already been recovered and repatriated in November 2023.
Under the U.S.-mediated ceasefire arrangement, Hamas was obligated to return every hostage—living or deceased—within a 72-hour timeframe. While the organization did release the twenty living captives it was holding, it has failed to comply with the portion of the deal requiring the return of the bodies of the murdered hostages.
{Matzav.com}
13 months after their abduction? 25 months, I’d think.