Asia Pacific Report
Hamas stages elaborate ceremonies for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza in a bid to signal they are responsible stakeholders by “showing the whole world that they were trying to keep them alive — keep them safe”, an analyst says.
Before the release of captives in yesterday’s seventh round of exchanges, Professor Sami Al-Arian of Istanbul Zaim University said the handover spectacles also doubled as a way for the group to preempt Israeli efforts to frame the narrative.
“They’re showing the whole world the conditions and also that this is going to be done in a very responsible way,” Professor Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.
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Five Israeli captives held by Hamas were handed over to the Red Cross (ICRC) at two different locations — Rafah in southern Gaza and Al Nuseirat refugee camp in central City — and returned to Israel in exchange for the release of an expected 602 Palestinian prisoners, including one who had been imprisoned for 40 years and many others who had never been charged.
A sixth Israeli captive was due to be released in Gaza City later without ceremony.
The last handover in this first phase of the three-phase ceasefire will end next Saturday with the return of the remains of four dead captives.
Discussing US President Donald Trump’s plan to force Palestinians to leave Gaza — which he has now reframed as a “recommendation”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political manoeuvring, and a recent Arab leaders’ plan for the reconstruction of the besieged enclave, Professor Al-Arian said any Arab initiative would work to Trump’s advantage.
“I think that’s probably [Trump’s] intention, to get the Arabs to move,” he said.
“Because his real intention is to make sure that Hamas will not be in power in Gaza after this is over, he doesn’t want an resumption of the war, this is going to actually divert him from his agenda, domestically and internationally.”
Palestinian sources have confirmed to Al Jazeera that the sixth captive, Hisham al-Sayed, will be handed over to Israeli authorities without ceremony.
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Shiri Bibas’s body identified
Meanwhile, in a statement posted on the Bring Bibas Back Instagram account, the Bibas family has now said experts at Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine have positively identified Shiri Bibas’s body.
Hamas delivered another coffin to the Red Cross on Friday reportedly containing the remains of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas, after Israel had accused the group of returning an unidentified person in her place in a mix-up during Thursday’s handover.
The bodies of her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, had been identified along with a fourth captive, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, by forensic experts on Thursday.
Relatives of the Bibas family have rejected attempts to politicise the deaths.
The family’s statement blamed the deaths on the Israeli government, saying it had failed to act in time and was ultimately accountable.
Hamas has claimed the family was killed along with Palestinians in an Israeli bombing attack while being held captive in Gaza.
“There was apparently a mixup, and according to Palestinian groups, that probably happened after the Israeli bombardment of the site in which the captives were held,” reports Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan.
Hamas were investigating and promised a report on the circumstances of the mistake.
