Reuters: Türkiye to help global team locate bodies of Israeli hostages in Gaza

Türkiye plans to participate in forming a special task force to locate the bodies of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip whose whereabouts remain unknown, a senior Turkish official told Reuters.

The task force will include representatives from Türkiye, the United States, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the peace talks, that the radical Palestinian movement Hamas estimates that it will take at least 10 days to find the bodies of some of the dead hostages. Israeli officials interviewed by the publication believe that finding all the remains may take even longer.

Reuters previously reported that Israeli authorities expect the release of all 20 remaining hostages held by Hamas on either October 12 or 13.

Gaza authorities say more than 67,000 people have been killed and much of the enclave flattened since Israel began its military response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli officials, with 20 of the 48 hostages still held believed to be alive.

By Khagan Isayev