Hamas: Crisis over handover of Izz al-Qassam bodies resolved; leadership delegation to arrive in Cairo Thursday
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
A senior Hamas leader participating in the negotiations told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the crisis over receiving the bodies of elite members of the Al-Qassam Brigades has ended after the Israeli army handed over 45 bodies on Wednesday.
The source added that a large senior delegation from the movement will arrive in Cairo today, Thursday, and will include Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal and most of the political bureau leadership abroad.
In detail, the movement leader said the Israeli army on Wednesday handed over 45 bodies of members of the elite Al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, whose remains had been held since October 7, 2023. They were fighters who took part in the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and were killed inside settlements.
He stressed that the movement insisted on conducting tests to verify the identities of the bodies, to ensure that the Israeli side had not manipulated the handover by giving the movement the bodies of civilians taken from graves in Gaza. He said it was agreed that the Red Cross in Jerusalem would carry out tests after obtaining samples from the families of Al-Qassam members, which was carried out yesterday.
Regarding the body of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohamed, the leader said the movement confirmed during the negotiations that it prefers to bury him in the occupied territory, especially since he comes from a family displaced from Ashkelon, and that burying him in the occupied territories would reinforce the cause he worked for throughout his life — the liberation of all Palestine.
Al-Qassam had announced on Wednesday the transfer of two bodies of detained Israelis to the Red Cross, saying it was making “great efforts to close the file of the bodies of Israeli prisoners” located in the Gaza Strip.
It added in a brief statement that “what remains of the bodies requires significant efforts and special equipment to search for and recover them.” U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, in its first phase — which includes a ceasefire, completion of a prisoner exchange between Israeli authorities and Hamas, opening crossings and allowing aid to flow into Gaza — calls for Israeli authorities to release 15 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli prisoner’s body returned.
A Hamas delegation arrives today to participate in a celebration for freed prisoners at a Cairo hotel, attended by 154 released Palestinian prisoners who were temporarily transferred from Israeli prisons to Egypt in preparation for implementing removal orders to several countries.
As part of the exchange deal, Israeli authorities had required that these prisoners be moved out of the occupied Palestinian territories.
