Israel says stays from Gaza will not be our bodies of hostages : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb6%2F15%2F45fd5657426fb375913691e363a5%2Fap25303550613012.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb6%2F15%2F45fd5657426fb375913691e363a5%2Fap25303550613012.jpg" class="img" alt="Red Cross vehicles carrying the bodies of people believed to be deceased hostages handed over by Hamas make their way toward the Kissufim border crossing with Israel, to be transferred to Israeli authorities, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Thursday." fetchpriority="high"/> Purple Cross automobiles carrying the our bodies of individuals believed to be deceased hostages handed over by Hamas make their method towards the Kissufim border crossing with Israel, to be transferred to Israeli authorities, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP disguise caption

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Abdel Kareem Hana/AP JERUSALEM — The stays of three folks handed over by Hamas to the Purple Cross this week don't belong to any of the hostages, Israel mentioned Saturday, the newest setback that would undermine a U.S.-brokered ceasefire within the Israel-Hamas battle.

The handover adopted Israel's return on Friday of the our bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza. That accomplished an change after militants earlier this week turned over stays of two hostages, an indication that the tense Israel-Hamas ceasefire settlement was edging ahead.

The unidentified stays of the three folks have been returned late Friday to Israel, the place they have been being examined in a single day. On the time, a navy official warned that Israeli intelligence steered they didn't belong to any of the hostages taken by Palestinian militants throughout the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel that sparked the battle. The Israeli official spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren't approved to speak to the media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's workplace on Saturday confirmed that the stays didn't belong to any of the hostages, with out giving additional particulars.

Hamas' armed wing mentioned in a subsequent assertion that it had provided at hand over samples on Friday of unidentified our bodies, however that Israel had refused to obtain them and requested for the stays for examination.

"We handed the our bodies over to cease the claims of Israel," the assertion mentioned.

It was unclear who the stays belonged to.

For the reason that U.S. brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took impact on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have launched the stays of 17 hostages that have been held in Gaza for the previous two years.

However the technique of returning the our bodies of the final 11 remaining hostages, as known as for below the truce deal, is progressing slowly, with militants releasing only one or two our bodies each few days.

The overall variety of Palestinian our bodies returned by Israel because the ceasefire started now stands at 225. Solely 75 of these have been recognized by households, in line with Gaza's Well being Ministry. It's unclear if these returned have been killed in Israel throughout the Oct. 7, 2023, assault, whether or not they died in Israeli custody as detainees or have been recovered from Gaza by troops throughout the battle.

The delicate truce confronted its largest problem earlier this week when Israel carried out strikes throughout Gaza that killed greater than 100 folks, following the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost metropolis, and the unfinished return of hostages.