This came in posts on the Telegram platform by Abu Ubaida, the new spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, who succeeded Hudhaifa al-Kahlout, nicknamed "Abu Ubaida," who was martyred during the Israeli war of extermination on the Gaza Strip.
Abu Ubaida said: “Regarding the body of soldier Ran Gweli, we confirm that we have informed the mediators of all the details and information we have about the location of the prisoner’s body. What confirms the truth of what we say is that the enemy is now searching in one of the places based on the information that the Qassam Brigades provided to the mediators.”
He added: "We dealt with the issue of prisoners and bodies with complete transparency, and we accomplished everything required of us based on the ceasefire agreement. We handed over all of our living and dead as quickly as possible without any delay, despite the Israeli occupation's non-compliance with the prisoner exchange agreement and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip."
He said: “We are not interested in delaying it, in consideration of the interest of our people. We have worked in complex and almost impossible circumstances to extract and hand over all the bodies of enemy prisoners with the knowledge of the mediators, whom we call on to stand up to their responsibilities and compel the occupation to implement what was agreed upon.”
Shortly after the Qassam Brigades' statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that the occupation army was searching for the remains of Ran Gafili in a cemetery in northern Gaza.
The office said, "The operation is taking place in a cemetery in northern Gaza and involves intensive search efforts, with the full use of all available intelligence. This effort will continue as long as necessary."
In recent months, Israel has linked the reopening of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to the return of the body of its last captive from the Strip.
In the latest statements, Hebrew media outlets, including the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth," quoted an unnamed Israeli official on Thursday as saying: "The Rafah crossing will not be opened until the body of Ran Gweili is returned from Gaza."
In May 2024, the Israeli occupation army seized control of the Rafah crossing during a ground operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, and the crossing has been closed and its buildings destroyed ever since.
In contrast, Ali Shaath, head of the National Administration Committee for the Gaza Strip, said on Thursday that the Rafah crossing would be opened next week, without specifying the mechanism that would be adopted.
Since the start of the first phase of the ceasefire on October 10, Palestinian factions have handed over 20 living Israeli prisoners and the remains of 27 others, while the remains of Ran Goili, whose remains Hamas continues to search for, remain missing.
The agreement ended a genocide that Israel began on October 8, 2023, and which lasted for two years, leaving more than 71,000 martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded Palestinians, and massive destruction that affected 90% of the civilian infrastructinfrastructure, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about $70 billion.
