GAZA CITY, 13 May 2004 — A Palestinian group yesterday announced that an agreement had been reached for the return of the remains of six Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza City a day earlier.
“The agreement stipulates that Israel will pull out of Zeitun neighborhood and will hand over the bodies of Palestinian martyrs they have been holding for years in exchange for the return of the soldiers’ remains,” Islamic Jihad spokesman Khader Habib said.
The Palestinian Authority called on the Gaza fighters to hand over the remains to the Israeli army, which vowed to pursue its operation in Gaza until they were returned.
Israeli troops have combed the area since Tuesday to find body parts which were taken by Palestinian fighters from the wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, blown up during an army incursion into Zeitun. “If Israel holds its promise, the agreement will be implemented tonight, if not the remains will not be handed back,” he added.
The agreement was brokered by Egyptian mediators and Palestinian officials.
“There is a reasonable chance that the issue will be settled by tonight,” Israeli Arab MP Ahmed Tibi, who is involved in the mediation effort, told parliament Wednesday afternoon.
High-ranking military officials were also quoted by public television as saying that the “operation in the Zeitun neighborhood in Gaza City should be over tonight”.
Habib explained that the remains were in the hand of the Al-Quds Brigades — the military wing of Islamic Jihad — the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades — an armed offshoot of Fatah — and the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades — the armed wing of Hamas.
A spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Abu Qusai, confirmed said an agreement was on the table.
He said that the remains of the soldiers could be handed over to the Israeli authorities by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
ICRC spokesman in Gaza Iyad Nasr said he could not immediately confirm an agreement had been reached. He said that the ICRC had not yet been contacted by militant groups to assist in a possible swap but reiterated that it was willing to offer its help.
Asked whether Israeli troops would have to withdraw before the remains were returned, Habib said “the details had not yet been decided upon”. He refused to give any details on the nature or number of the body parts removed by militants from the wreckage of the destroyed APC.
