ALBAWABA - According to a report from the Hebrew broadcaster Kan on Friday morning, Israel is getting ready to receive a new batch of hostage remains from Gaza by the end of this week.
The expected transfer comes after Israel and the United States put more diplomatic pressure on Hamas and regional mediators to speed up progress on the issue. Israeli officials think that Hamas is still holding on to several bodies that could be given up right away.
The Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) says that Hamas can return at least 10 of the 13 Israeli hostages' bodies without needing help from other countries.
During his visit to Israel earlier this week, senior intelligence officials are said to have shown these results to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance before he left on Thursday.
Allegations of Delaying
An Israeli official told Yedioth Ahronoth that Hamas "may return eight more remains." The official also said that Hamas "claims not to know the locations of five others." He also said that Hamas is intentionally dragging out the first phase of the ceasefire deal to put off the start of the second phase, which would force it to give up its weapons.
The official said that both Tel Aviv and Washington are focused on getting back all of the hostages' bodies, including those of two American-Israeli soldiers, Captain Omer Neutra and Sergeant Itay Chen.
Delays and Arguments
The last transfer of bodies happened on Wednesday night. Before the ceasefire, Israel said Hamas had 28 bodies, 13 of which had not yet been returned. Israel says Hamas broke the deal by sending the remains in separate batches. They say the group could have found and returned more bodies, even though it was hard to get them out from under the rubble.
Hamas, on the other hand, says that the delay is only because of logistics. They say that getting the bodies back requires heavy excavation equipment that is hard to find in Gaza right now.
Mediation by the U.S. and what comes next
As part of President Donald Trump's post-war plan, the United States is still putting a lot of pressure on Israel to keep the ceasefire and move forward with rebuilding Gaza. Washington is also trying to make sure that the deal's humanitarian and political parts move forward, even though the exchange of prisoners and remains is still on hold.
