The Israeli military has said it will not return the bodies of two Palestinian gunmen killed in Friday’s clashes until Hamas frees two Israeli citizens being held in Gaza as well as the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 war. Gen Yoav Mordechai said that Israel was holding the corpses of two Hamas fighters killed on Friday as well as the bodies of 24 other Palestinians. “Israel will not be silent and the residents of Gaza will not know peace until the Israelis are returned and our soldiers are brought to burial in Israel,” he said. Human rights groups have condemned both sides for holding corpses. Israel and the Palestinians are bracing themselves for fresh confrontations in Gaza this Friday, the traditional day of protest in the Arab world.

Source: National Post April 03, 2018 13:51 UTC