The Japan Times - Hamas says committed to Gaza truce and returning hostage remains

Responding to a call from the militant group for assistance with locating the bodies of the 19 hostages, buried under the rubble alongside an untold number of Palestinians, Turkey sent specialists to help in the search.

Under a ceasefire agreement spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, Hamas returned 20 surviving hostages and the remains of nine of 28 known deceased hostages -- along with another body, which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

In exchange, Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and halted the military campaign that it launched in Gaza after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Thursday his determination to "secure the return of all hostages" after his defence minister warned that the military "will resume fighting" if Hamas failed to do so.

Later that same day, Hamas insisted on "its commitment to the agreement and its implementation, including its keenness to hand over all remaining corpses".

But it said the process "may require some time, as some of these corpses were buried in tunnels destroyed by the occupation, while others remain under the rubble of buildings it bombed and demolished".

Turkey has deployed dozens of disaster relief specialists to help search for the bodies, but the families of the Israeli dead have fumed at Hamas's inability to deliver their loved ones' remains.

The main campaign group advocating for the hostages' families demanded on that Israel "immediately halt the implementation of any further stages of the agreement as long as Hamas continues to blatantly violate its obligations".

- 'Actually digging' -

Trump appeared to call for patience when it came to the bodies' return, insisting Hamas was "actually digging" for hostages' remains, but later expressed frustration with the group's conduct since the fighting halted.

"If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them," Trump said on Truth Social in an apparent reference to recent shootings of Palestinian civilians.

Since the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza under the ceasefire deal, Hamas has been tightening its grip on ruined cities, launching a crackdown and executing alleged collaborators in the street.

Clashes have also taken place between the group's various security units and armed Palestinian clans, some of which are alleged to have Israeli backing.

The ceasefire deal has so far seen the war grind to a halt after two years of agony for the hostages' families, and constant bombardment and hunger for Gazans.

According to Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza, the next phases of the truce should include the disarmament of Hamas, the offer of amnesty to Hamas leaders who decommission their weapons and establishing the governance of post-war Gaza.

The plan also calls for renewed aid provision, with international organisations awaiting the reopening of southern Gaza's Rafah crossing.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on the sidelines of a summit in Naples that preparations were being made for the strategic crossing, and that he "hoped" it would reopen on Sunday, Italian news agencies reported.

Israel, however, said earlier that the crossing would only be open to people, not aid, and Saar did not appear to elaborate.

The war has created a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with the UN declaring famine in August.

The World Health Organization has warned that infectious diseases are "spiralling out of control", with only 13 of the territory's 36 hospitals even partially functioning.

"Whether meningitis... diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses, we're talking about a mammoth amount of work," Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the UN health body, told AFP in Cairo.

- 'My children are home' -

The families of the surviving hostages have been able, after two long years without their loved ones, to rejoice in their return.

"My children are home! Two years ago, one morning, I lost half of my family," said Sylvia Cunio, mother of Ariel and David Cunio, who were released from captivity.

Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza on Thursday, the territory's health ministry said.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.

For many in Gaza, while there was relief that the bombing had stopped, the road to recovery felt impossible, given the sheer scale of the devastation.

"There's no water -- no clean water, not even salty water, no water at all. No essentials of life exist -- no food, no drink, nothing," said Mustafa Mahram, who returned to Gaza City after the ceasefire.

"As you can see, all that's left is rubble."

The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

K.Yamaguchi--JT