The Israeli government announced on Wednesday (December 3) that the human remains handed over by Hamas from Gaza on Tuesday have been confirmed through forensic examinations not to belong to the two deceased hostages who were believed to have been left in Gaza.
On the same day, Israel declared that the Rafah crossing will reopen in the coming days to allow residents of Gaza to enter Egypt.
According to a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, the remains have been identified by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, and the conclusion was that they are “not related to any deceased hostages.”
As part of the commitments under the October ceasefire agreement, Hamas transferred the body believed to be one of the “last two deceased hostages in Gaza” through the Red Cross on Tuesday.
Palestinian media reported that the remains handed over on Tuesday were found in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
Hamas has not yet commented on the results of the identification.
Despite the first phase of the ceasefire agreement coming to a close and Israel having received back 20 surviving hostages and the remains of 26 deceased hostages, the body exchange work is facing new obstacles.
Israel has demanded that Hamas promptly return all the hostage remains, but both sides accuse each other of violating the terms of the agreement.
Israel alleges that Hamas has in some instances only handed over partial remains or staged the discovery of bodies. Hamas, on the other hand, contends that the widespread destruction in Gaza has complicated the retrieval of bodies and accuses Israel of firing on civilians, restricting humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
As part of the exchange mechanism, for each hostage body received by Israel, they will return 15 bodies of Palestinians. According to data from the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel has transferred a total of 330 bodies. However, the Health Ministry stated that due to a lack of DNA testing kits, they can only identify a small portion of the remains.
The two deceased hostages still in Gaza are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai farm worker Sudthisak Rinthalak. Both were kidnapped during a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a devastating two-year conflict in Gaza.
The Thai government has reported that a total of 46 Thai citizens have died in the conflict, noting that several Thai workers who were previously kidnapped were released during the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), responsible for facilitating the movement of aid supplies, announced on Wednesday that the Rafah crossing will reopen in the coming days to allow residents of Gaza to enter Egypt.
The arrangement has been approved by Israeli security authorities and will operate in coordination with Egypt under EU supervision, similar to the passageway mechanism used in January this year.
This will be a rare external passage for the people of Gaza since the conflict began. However, COGAT did not specify the exact timing of the reopening of the crossing or any restrictions on evacuees.
The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, has reported that the current death toll in Gaza has surpassed 70,100 individuals.