Israel seeks to resolve issue of dead soldiers through Turkey
President of the Israeli regime, Reuven Rivlin, says he will urge Turkey again to negotiate with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas to resolve the issue of dead Israeli soldiers who had been captured in the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to al-Aqsa satellite television, Rivlin said he had discussed the issue with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during talks to restore relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara.
Rivlin said he would once again seek to raise the issue when Turkey's ambassador would present his credentials in the coming weeks.
He claimed that the bodies of two Israeli soldiers named Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin were in Gaza, adding that he would urge Erdogan to force Hamas to return them to Israel.
According to the report, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it had captured Shaul during the Tel Aviv regime’s war on Gaza in 2014. Two days later, Israel claimed the soldier was killed in clashes with Qassam forces.
In early July 2014, Israel waged a deadly war on Gaza. The 50-day offensive ended on August 26 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s onslaught. Hamas launched retaliatory missile attacks against Israel, with Tel Aviv confirming that 53 Israeli soldiers were killed. Hamas puts the number at about 100.
Israel and Hamas do not officially maintain direct contacts, and any deal would have to be mediated by international parties. In 2011, kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian detainees, in a deal brokered with the help of a German diplomat.
The Israeli soldier had been held in the besieged Palestinian territory for more than five years.
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