Post by : Rameen Ariff

Cairo: Hamas’ military wing announced plans late Wednesday to transfer the body of a hostage, a move illustrating the tenuous calm in Gaza even as occasional clashes and air raids test the US-mediated truce.

The disclosure followed reports from the Israeli military that two Palestinians were killed after allegedly approaching an occupied zone in what was described as a threatening way. Gazan health officials also said a civilian gathering firewood was killed, underscoring how violence continues to flare amid the lull.

Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect, Israel and Hamas have carried out a sequence of exchanges covering living hostages, detainees and the remains of those killed. Hamas has released all 20 living captives it held in Gaza, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees freed from Israeli custody.

Returning bodies of those who died remains a sensitive and unresolved component of the deal. Hamas says recovering remains is increasingly difficult given the widespread destruction across Gaza, while Israel accuses the group of delaying the process intentionally.

Gaza health authorities report that 21 of 28 buried hostage bodies have so far been returned by Hamas. In parallel, Israel has handed back the bodies of 285 Palestinians killed since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023.

Although the scale of Israeli bombardment has dropped markedly, intermittent shelling and air strikes are still reported across parts of the Strip, preventing a full return to normalcy.

The easing of violence has nevertheless enabled thousands of displaced residents to make cautious returns to devastated districts and has expanded the flow of humanitarian assistance into the territory.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from several built-up positions, repositioning behind a yellow demarcation line that now loosely marks current control zones on the ground.

The truce, brokered by Washington, remains fragile; both parties are urging the US to press for stricter observance and to deter further breaches.

With humanitarian needs deepening, the ongoing swaps of prisoners and remains provide a narrow channel of engagement — a precarious thread keeping the ceasefire intact amid persistent distrust.

#Global