A Hamas official has accused Israeli authorities of obstructing International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel and their local partners from searching for and recovering the bodies of Israelis killed in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas representative, quoted by Al Jazeera, claimed Israeli authorities “are denying ICRC representatives and the resistance teams working with them entry to eastern areas of Gaza to search for the captive's remains.” He called on mediators involved in negotiations between Hamas and Israel to “take responsibility for facilitating the ICRC's search operations.”
The official further claimed that Israel is “deliberately impeding the recovery efforts” in order to blame Hamas for delays in the process, characterizing Israeli statements about Hamas obstructing the searches as “false.”
This follows earlier comments by Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk, who stated the movement intends to transfer all recovered captive bodies to Israel. Hamas has repeatedly cited the extensive destruction across the enclave as a major challenge to recovery operations.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Marius Arnesen/Creative Commons 3.0
Based on materials from TASS