Red Cross goes into Gaza with Hamas to look for bodies of hostages

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accompanied members of Hamas inside areas of Gaza still under Israeli military control to facilitate the search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, an official from the humanitarian organisation has said.

- Lorenzo Tondo

Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli.

The Qassam brigades, Hamas's military wing, said yesterday it would deliver the body of a deceased hostage at 9pm local time, Reuters reported. Israeli media confirmed that the IDF was working with the ICRC to receive the remains.

Hamas has so far returned the remains of 15 hostages but none in the past five days, as some of those bodies are believed to be in areas beyond the yellow line marking Gaza's ceasefire.

"At the request of the parties, the International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday accompanied a party to the conflict as the party searched for the remains of the deceased past the IDF-designated 'yellow line'," said Sarah Davies, an ICRC spokesperson.

She said the parties to the conflict had trusted the ICRC as an intermediary but that it was not involved in the negotiations. Davies added: “The ICRC was not involved in the search for the deceased nor does it take part in the physical recovery of remains.”

An ICRC official confirmed to the Guardian that the party cited in their statement was Hamas.