Israeli troops recover body of hostage held in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israel said on Saturday its special forces had recovered the body of a hostage killed while being held captive in Gaza, as the Palestinian enclave’s dominant Islamist movement Hamas said it would take part in a new round of ceasefire talks in Cairo.
Six months into the war, Israel has faced protests at home demanding a deal to free the dwindling number of live hostages from Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border rampage. Western countries, meanwhile, have voiced outrage over what they see as an unacceptably high Palestinian civilian toll and the accompanying humanitarian crisis.
The body of Elad Katzir, a 47-year-old Israeli farmer, was unearthed by commandos in southern Khan Younis overnight, the military said. He had been killed by his Palestinian Islamic Jihad captors and buried there in mid-January, it said.
Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, had no immediate comment.
Hamas on Saturday said its fighters targeted three Israeli tanks in Khan Younis with missiles, inflicting casualties. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, though it said earlier that troops had engaged with gunmen in the area.
Israel later approved the reopening of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and the temporary use of Ashdod port in southern Israel.
Hamas sending delegation to Egypt for cease-fire talks
Hamas said it would send a delegation to Cairo on Sunday for a new round of mediated talks. Israel was undecided on whether to attend, an Israeli official said, citing concern that the event would be “more political theater than actual progress.”
CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to attend Sunday’s talks, along with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and an Israeli delegation, Egypt’s Al Qahera news reported Saturday.
Hamas wants any deal to bring about an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has said that, after any truce, it would topple Hamas.
Based on various sources of information, Israel has declared at least 35 hostages as dead in Gaza captivity. Palestinian factions have said some were killed in Israeli strikes. While confirming this in several cases, Israel says that, in others, hostages whose bodies were recovered bore signs of execution.
Pelosi joins call to stop transfer of US weapons to Israel
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signed a letter on Friday from dozens of congressional Democrats to the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.
Friday’s letter called on the Biden administration to conduct its own probe into an Israeli airstrike that killed seven staff of the aid group World Central Kitchen on Monday.
It was signed by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats, including Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.