Amit Segal reports in today’s edition of his It’s Noon In Israel newsletter (received a little over an hour ago):
[T]he remains that Hamas returned to Israel overnight belong to the body of a hostage that Israeli forces recovered from Gaza in late 2023. To avoid confusion: when the body, belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, 27, was first recovered from Gaza, some remains were missing. Hamas has now handed over additional remains belonging to Ofir under the guise of them belonging to one of the 13 dead hostages still in Gaza.
But what’s even more disturbing is how Hamas returned Ofir’s remains. According to IDF soldiers who witnessed the scene, Hamas used a tractor to dig a hole, brought the remains from a nearby building and placed it in the hole, covered the remains in dirt, and then called the Red Cross to the scene, where—with the Red Cross’ cameras rolling—Hamas “discovered” Ofir’s remains.
Did Hamas really think it could get away with this? It’s unlikely, and either way, the whole scene was caught on an IDF drone. But don’t forget: this came after six days of Hamas not returning any bodies to Israel—and the timing was no accident. Rather, Hamas’ goal is to buy more time while simultaneously playing with Israeli society.
While we’re here, it’s worth circling back to Hamas’ demand for excavating equipment and heavy machinery to help find hostages’ bodies. The Gazan terror group, of course, has little interest in recovering dead Israeli bodies, but it is certainly interested in using this heavy digging machinery for something else: rehabilitating its tunnel network.
So, what’s next? Donald Trump’s 48-hour deadline expired, and Hamas is still playing games….
It’s a story that won’t get much coverage here, but portends things to come one way or another.
