Exclusive: Hamas says Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ destruction of Gaza behind delay in locating captives' bodies
A senior Hamas source has told Middle East Eye that Israel bears responsibility for delays in locating and returning the bodies of captives still missing in Gaza.
The source was speaking after Israeli officials said on Tuesday that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed through Wednesday and accused Hamas of holding onto the bodies of captives it had pledged to return as part of the US-brokered peace deal that halted the two-year war.
But the Hamas source told MEE that its negotiators clearly stated during talks that the presence of Israeli forces and the genocidal, indiscriminate Israeli attacks that caused widespread destruction would complicate the task of locating the bodies of killed captives, requiring greater time and effort.
“They made it clear during the negotiations that time and great efforts will be needed after the withdrawal of the occupying Israeli forces, to collect information about the bodies,” said the source.
“This was clear and accepted during the negotiations. The signed agreement included a very clear clause about this. Clause 5 e in the agreement stated: ‘Establishment of an information-sharing mechanism between the two sides through the mediators and the ICRC, to exchange information and intelligence on any remaining deceased hostages that were not retrieved within the 72 hours or remains of Gazans held by Israel. The mechanism shall ensure that the remains of all the hostages are fully and safely exhumed and released. Hamas shall exert maximum effort to ensure the fulfilment of these commitments as soon as possible’”.
Hamas on Monday released 20 living captives held for more than two years, as well as the bodies of four killed captives. Twenty-eight dead captives are due to be handed over as part of the deal.
On Tuesday, Hamas said it would start handing over four more bodies later at night.
'Israel did not scale back its attacks'
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed and wounded more than 245,000 Palestinians to date, the majority of whom are civilians. The amount of munitions dropped on the densely populated enclave exceeds the amount used on major European cities during World War II. Around 92 percent of residential buildings and 88 percent of commercial buildings have been completely destroyed.
Hamas maintains that captives were also killed during Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
“As a result of the genocidal war committed by Israel, many hostages were killed with their Palestinian resistance guards, and communications were lost with some of the units responsible for the bodies,” the source told MEE.
“The Israeli public should hold Netanyahu, his cabinet, and the Israeli army responsible for the killing of these hostages and the loss of their bodies under the rubble, as more than 10,000 civilian Palestinians [are believed to be under the rubble].”
The source added Hamas’s Qassam Brigades “frequently warned” that the Israeli army’s actions would lead to the deaths of captives, but “Israel did not scale back its attacks”.
“The Qassam units in charge of guarding Israelis, alive and dead, were targeted. The main difficulty [in finding the bodies] is losing contact with the guards, because the Israelis killed them.”
The source said that Hamas was committed to fulfilling its obligation under the agreement to return the remains of all of the captives, and said it was working hard to do so.
He noted that the wording of the agreement required Hamas to return the bodies “as soon as possible” and said Hamas was willing to cooperate with international entities, as agreed in the deal.
“Nothing was hidden,” he said. “[Hamas has] fulfilled its commitment with handing over the living hostages, despite all the bad faith from Israel by changing the list of the Palestinian prisoners to be released, not allowing the top names in the list to be released, and changing the list at the last minute."
“Despite that it (Hamas) fulfilled its commitments and released all alive hostages on time, as well as four dead hostages.”
The source added that Israel’s destruction of Gaza has “really changed the geography of the area”, making it “extremely difficult” to identify locations.
He condemned Israel’s decision to keep the Rafah crossing closed as a “serious infringement of the agreement” that would further hinder rescue and aid efforts.
“We call on the mediators to intervene immediately to resolve this matter,” he said.