Hamas: Identification of last Israeli captive confirms our commitment to ceasefire
The Palestinian group has commented on the discovery of Givili’s remains and the ceasefire.
“We will continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success,” a statement from Hamas said.
“We call on the mediators and the United States to compel the [Israeli] occupation to cease its violations of the agreement and implement its required obligations”.
The Palestinian group says that in return for providing all necessary information to mediators and to Israel for the successful return of all the captives held in Gaza, Israel must keep up its end of the bargain, “especially the opening of the Rafah crossing in both directions without restrictions, the entry of the Gaza Strip’s needs in the required quantities, the lifting of the ban on any of them, the complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip”.
PIJ says it gave location of last Israeli captive’s remains to mediators weeks ago
Abu Hamza, the spokesperson of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), says the group handed the coordinates for the location of the body of Ran Gvili to the mediators three weeks ago based on new information.
“But the enemy deliberately delayed the coordination and search operations,” Abu Hamza alleged.
‘Issue of captives in Gaza is done and cannot be reopened’
With this last captive’s remains found, there are no excuses left for Israel to open the Rafah crossing to let in aid. It will be more difficult for Netanyahu to place more obstacles.
The captive, Ran Gvili, was an Israeli policeman. He was thought to have perished during the attack or shortly after on October 7, 2023. According to the information we’re gathering, it’s believed that he was buried very early on in the war.
The Israeli military carried out this operation after it received the intelligence. It excavated a Muslim cemetery, basically, and took over 200 bodies. There was a team of medical professionals to ascertain the identity of those remains.
We know from past experience, the bodies [of the Palestinians] that had been collected will be returned without identification. This has added misery to the families who had buried their loved ones, who had known where they could have visited their deceased loved ones.
But now this file, this issue of captives in Gaza, has been closed, and it cannot be reopened. It’s done.
And the conversation with Israel has to move on to a different level, to a different issue, giving some hope for the Palestinians in Gaza, so that they can actually talk about the number of [aid] trucks allowed in, the number of medical evacuations and people needing to come home.
