Agency, Oct 19: Hamas handed over the bodies of two more deceased Israeli hostages to Israel on Saturday, while Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners the same day as part of the ongoing ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

According to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the remains of the two Israeli hostages were transferred to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and sent to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification.

Hamas has so far returned 12 of the 28 bodies of Israeli hostages, fulfilling the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel, which came into effect on October 10. The group had released all surviving Israeli hostages earlier on Saturday and reportedly handed over all transferable bodies at the same time.

However, Hamas has accused Israel of manipulating the process of returning the bodies of Palestinian prisoners while continuing airstrikes on the Gaza Strip to intimidate civilians. The group also claims Israel is intentionally delaying Gaza’s reconstruction efforts, which were supposed to begin immediately after the first phase of the ceasefire was implemented.

Negotiations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have not yet begun.
(CCTV+)