Israel has identified the bodies of two more hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said yesterday, as US Vice President J.D. Vance sounded a buoyant note about progress in Gaza’s fragile ceasefire during a visit to Israel.
Authorities identified the deceased hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar. Their bodies were transported in coffins by the Red Cross and handed over to the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.
A military ceremony attended by the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces was planned for later in the day, Netanyahu’s office said.
Photo: Reuters
The two were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, which triggered the two-year war.
Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Thirteen more still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element to the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, the burial of more than 50 Palestinians was set for yesterday at a cemetery in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
The bodies were displayed outside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis ahead of burial. The 50 are among the 165 bodies of Palestinians that Israel has so far handed over.
During a joint news conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Vance said there were challenges ahead in terms of disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza as part of the ceasefire.
“We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas, but rebuild Gaza, to make life better for the people of Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel,” he said.
During a news conference on Tuesday in Kiryat Gat, in southern Israel where a US-led mission is monitoring the Gaza ceasefire, Vance expressed “great optimism” that the truce would hold.
He said Washington would not set a deadline for Hamas to disarm under the deal, despite concerns in Israel that the group has seized on the halt in fighting to reassert itself in Gaza.
Netanyahu yesterday said ideas for “the day after” had been discussed.
“We’re just creating an unbelievable day after with a completely new vision of how to have the civil government, how to have the security there, who could provide that security there,” he said.
“It’s not going to be easy, but I think it’s possible... We’re really creating a peace plan and an infrastructure here where nothing existed even a week and a day ago,” he said. “That’s going to require a lot of work. It requires a lot of ingenuity.”
Vance said the Gaza deal could also pave the way for broader alliances for Israel in the Middle East.
“I think this Gaza deal is a critical piece of unlocking the Abraham Accords,” he said, referring to the series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020.
“But what it could allow is an alliance structure in the Middle East that perseveres, that endures, and that allows the good people in this region, the world, to step up and take ownership of their own backyard,” he added.
Additional reporting by AFP
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