- No announcement by terror groups on plans to give remains to Israel; IDF kills at least 4 terror operatives who entered Israeli-controlled part of Strip
The body of a hostage held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad was recovered in an area north of central Gaza’s Nuseirat, the terror group said Monday.
The announcement that it “found” the body of a hostage during excavation work in the central Gaza Strip earlier in the day confirmed an Al Jazeera report from hours earlier, but there was no immediate announcement from Islamic Jihad or Hamas on the planned transfer of the body to Israel.
The bodies of three slain hostages are still held in the Gaza Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national: Dror Or, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Over the weekend, Arabic-language media reported that both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group were conducting searches for the final three bodies of slain hostages held in the Strip.
Footage showed Islamic Jihad gunmen standing alongside excavators with Egyptian flags on them during the digging operations in Nuseirat.
The searches began on Friday, according to Al Jazeera.
In addition, the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported that Hamas is carrying out searches for a body in the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City.
The organizations are obligated to return them under the terms of the ceasefire deal. However, they claim they have had trouble locating the remaining bodies despite repeated searches, claims Israel has questioned.
Meny Godard, who was murdered and abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, was the most recent slain hostage to be returned, on November 13.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday it identified and struck three terror operatives who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal in the southern Gaza Strip.
The operatives had been spotted crossing the line in the Khan Younis area and approaching troops of the Kfir Brigade, while “posing an immediate threat,” the military said.
The Israeli Air Force, with information provided by the ground troops, struck the operatives “to remove the threat,” the IDF said. Palestinian media reported that two people were killed in a strike in the area.
Later in the day, the military said that in two separate incidents, several operatives had been spotted crossing the Yellow Line in the Strip’s north and approaching troops of the 188th Armored Brigade and reservists of the Carmeli Brigade, while “posing an immediate threat.”
The troops opened fire on the operatives, killing two of them, the army said.
The IDF said it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
The incident came days after an escalation of hostilities in the Strip, as Israel and the Palestinian terror group continued to trade accusations of ceasefire violations.
On Saturday, Israel carried out deadly strikes across Gaza against senior Hamas officials after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on Israeli troops in the Strip’s south.
The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan formed the basis of Israel and Hamas’s October 9 truce-hostage deal.
In the next stage of the plan, Israel is meant to withdraw further from the so-called Yellow Line, alongside the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment of a multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli military, the disarmament of Hamas, and the start of reconstruction.
Hamas has so far refused to agree on the matter of demilitarization. Israel insists the Strip must be demilitarized before Trump’s plan can advance.
BY: The Times Union – TOI
