Overview
- Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades restarted coordinated searches with International Committee of the Red Cross teams in Gaza City’s Zeitoun area after a two-week weather pause.
- Footage from the site shows armed operatives, Red Cross vehicles and heavy machinery, including bulldozers, engaged in the effort.
- Israeli officials say talks on the ceasefire’s second phase will not advance until the remains of police officer Ran Gvili are returned.
- Of the 251 people abducted on 7 October 2023, only Gvili’s body remains in Gaza after he was killed that day and taken across the border.
- Gvili’s parents and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum welcomed the renewed search, urged that the Rafah crossing stay closed until his return, and called on mediators to use their leverage; some reports note PIJ personnel were absent as previous claims suggested the group had transferred the body to Hamas.