CAIRO, October 18. /TASS/. The Palestinian movement Hamas will hand over the bodies of two more Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross at 10:00 p.m. local time (coincides with Moscow time), according to a statement on the Telegram channel of the military wing of Hamas, the Izz Al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
"As part of the deal to exchange [Israeli hostages] for Palestinian prisoners, it has been decided to hand over the bodies of two captives [to medical personnel] at around 10:00 p.m.," the statement reads. The location of the handover and the names of hostages, whose bodies will be collected by the Red Cross, have not yet been announced.
On the morning of October 13 this year, radicals from the Palestinian movement Hamas, in accordance with the peace settlement agreements in Gaza, released 20 Israeli hostages who had remained in the enclave after two years. Later that evening, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Israeli side received the first four coffins with the remains of the deceased abductees. Israeli authorities immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that only four bodies out of 28 were returned in the first phase. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called this a deviation from the agreement and warned that further delays by the radicals would have consequences. On October 14, four more coffins were handed over to Israel.