The Israeli occupation army’s announcement on Friday of the recovery of the bodies of 3 prisoners who were being held in the Gaza Strip was not the first of its kind, but was preceded by similar announcements since the start of the war.
Earlier today, the occupation army said in a statement that its forces recovered the bodies of three prisoners, Israelis Hanan Yevlonka and Michael Nissenbaum, and tourist Oren Hernandez, who holds Mexican citizenship, without explaining the circumstances of their deaths.
He added that the bodies of the three prisoners were recovered last night in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the “Yalom” unit, indicating that he is continuing his military and intelligence operations to recover those he described as all the kidnapped.
At the end of last October, Israel announced the return of soldier Uri Magidish from the northern Gaza Strip, before announcing on November 9 the recovery of two bodies, while at the beginning of last December it said that it had found the body of prisoner Ofir Zarvati.
On December 12, 2023, the Israeli army announced that it had found the bodies of two prisoners in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade in the Jabalia camp in the north, before announcing just two days later that 3 bodies had been recovered, two of which were Israeli soldiers.
In the middle of the same month, the Israeli army admitted that it had mistakenly killed 3 prisoners, but on February 12, it announced the recovery of the two prisoners, Fernando Marman and Louis Har.
On April 6, the occupation army said that it had recovered the body of prisoner Elad Katzir, while on May 17, it announced the exhumation of three bodies of prisoners killed on October 7, 2023. Then, one day later, it returned to confirm that it had recovered a body belonging to a prisoner. He was killed at the beginning of the “Al-Aqsa Flood”.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said a few days ago that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “would rather have his soldiers killed in search of remains and bodies in Gaza than go to a prisoner exchange deal that does not serve his political and personal interests.”
On October 7, Hamas launched a major attack on Israeli military points, barracks, and settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, during which it captured at least 239 people, exchanging dozens of them with Israel during a temporary humanitarian truce that lasted 7 days and ended in early December 2023.