A full day of excavation on Sunday ended without progress in the search for the last remaining bodies of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas, despite intensified efforts involving Egyptian specialists and international observers.<\/p>\n
Excavation crews worked across the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, combing through dense rubble left by years of bombardment. Egypt deployed heavy equipment and excavation experts to assist, but officials on the ground described the pace as slow and painstaking. Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross were present throughout the operation, monitoring and supporting recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
Hamas has so far handed over the remains of 25 Israeli hostages, but three individuals remain unaccounted for. Their recovery is a key component of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement that came into force on October 10. Under the terms of that deal, Israel is required to return 15 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli body recovered and handed over by Hamas.<\/p>\n
Israeli officials accused Hamas of intentionally delaying the process. Hamas, however, maintains that the scale of destruction across Gaza the result of Israel\u2019s two-year military offensive \u2014 has made locating the remaining bodies extremely difficult.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the search will continue in the coming days, though the timeline for completing the recovery remains uncertain.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A full day of excavation on Sunday ended without progress in the search for the last remaining bodies of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas, despite intensified efforts involving Egyptian specialists and international observers. Excavation crews worked across the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, combing through dense rubble left by years of bombardment. Egypt deployed heavy<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_1160854738579181570_1160854738579181570":"","facebook_3558452337540614_100649324928663":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,353],"tags":[895,456,981,2269,2253],"class_list":["post-14527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-middle-east","category-war","tag-conflict","tag-gaza","tag-israel","tag-middleeast","tag-news"],"yoast_head":"\n