Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the Israeli delegation "held talks today with the mediators involved in the Gaza ceasefire (Egypt and Qatar) regarding the return of the last remains of a hostage in the Strip."
The statement explained that "at Netanyahu's direction, the delegation, headed by the coordinator of the Israeli General Security Service, Brigadier General (Res.) Gal Hirsch, left after holding talks with mediators to ensure the immediate release of the last remains of an Israeli hostage, First Sergeant Ran Goeli."
He noted that the Israeli delegation included officials from the occupation army and the General Security Service “Shin Bet”, as well as officials from the “Mossad”, and at the conclusion of the talks, “an agreement was reached to intensify efforts and expedite the completion of the Shin Bet’s mission”, according to the same source.
Earlier on Thursday, Hamas announced that it had handed over the body of one of the Israeli prisoners the previous day, and confirmed that it would continue working to complete the exchange file entirely, as part of its commitment to the ceasefire agreement.
In contrast, Israel said earlier on Thursday that the remains it received belonged to Thai worker Suthisak Rintlak, noting that only one prisoner’s body remains in Gaza, that of Sergeant First Class Ran Goeli.
For his part, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the movement "continues to abide by the ceasefire agreement and handed over the body of one of the Zionist prisoners yesterday as part of implementing what was agreed upon," and stressed that the movement "will continue to work to complete the exchange file in full."
In that context, Axios, citing two US officials and one Western source, said that US President Donald Trump intends to announce the transition to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement “before the Christmas holidays.”
The American website added that this approach comes in the context of the Trump administration's desire to "end the war in the Gaza Strip and not slide back into it."
The same sources added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also expected to meet with Trump in the United States before the end of this month to discuss the next phase of the Gaza agreement, including the announcement of a “peace council” in Gaza.
She added that the upcoming meeting will discuss the second phase of the agreement, which includes “the withdrawal of the Israeli army from more areas in Gaza, the deployment of an international force in the sector, and also the peace council headed by Trump, which will assume the presidency of a governing structure in Gaza,” according to Axios.
Israel is conditioning the start of negotiations to launch the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement on receiving all of its prisoners in Gaza, after the Palestinian factions handed over the 20 living Israeli prisoners and the bodies of 26 prisoners, as part of the first phase of the agreement.
Despite the fact that one body of its prisoners remains in Gaza, Israel is being intransigent regarding the issue of the bodies of Palestinian prisoners, as there are 9,500 missing Palestinians who were killed by the occupation army, andtheir bodies are still under the rubble of the houses that it destroyed during the war of extermination, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.
More than 9,300 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, are held in Israeli prisons, where they suffer torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has led to the deaths of dozens of them, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
With American support, Israel launched a war of extermination in Gaza on October 7, 2023, leaving more than 70,000 martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded Palestinians, most of them children and women.
A ceasefire agreement that went into effect on October 10 was supposed to end the war, but Israel violates it daily, resulting in the killing and wounding of hundreds of Palestinians.
Israel is also preventing sufficient food and medicine from entering Gaza, where some 2.4 million Palestinians live in catastrophic and inhumane conditions.
