GAZA — The Palestinian group Hamas said Saturday it is ready to recover the remains of all Israeli hostages inside the “yellow line” in Gaza.

It called on mediators and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide the necessary equipment to expedite the process.

The “yellow line” refers to the zone from which Israeli forces have withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10. It is a non-physical partition dividing the Gaza Strip in half, south of Gaza City and north of Khan Younis.

In a statement, Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said its teams “are ready to work on extracting the bodies of (Israeli) enemy prisoners inside the yellow line at the same time and in all places, in order to close this file.”

The group urged mediators and the ICRC “to provide and equip the necessary machinery and teams to retrieve all the bodies at the same time,” describing the move as a step toward resolving the dispute over the fate of the hostage remains.

Hamas said it delivered three unidentified bodies on Friday after Israel refused to accept samples of the remains and insisted on receiving full bodies for forensic testing. The group said it handed them over “to block the (Israeli) enemy’s claims” and avoid delays in the process.

Israeli media reported Saturday that the remains of the three individuals handed over by Hamas do not belong to Israeli hostages.

Since the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire began on Oct. 10, Hamas has released 20 Israeli captives alive and handed over the remains of 19 others, most of them Israeli. Israel claimed that one of the received bodies did not match any of its listed captives.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Israel has killed 211 Palestinians and injured 597 others since the ceasefire took effect.

Israel has linked the start of negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire to the full handover of hostage remains, while Hamas says the process requires time due to widespread destruction in Gaza.

Phase one of the deal includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and outlines plans for Gaza’s reconstruction and the creation of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Israel has killed more than 68,500 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,600 others in attacks on Gaza since October 2023. — Agencies