The IDF spokesman for foreign media told NBC News on Thursday that the IDF conducted search and rescue operations, including for the bodies of dead hostages, in a cemetery in Gaza. Asked to respond to claims made by residents in Gaza that IDF soldiers had desecrated a cemetery in the southern neighborhood of Khan Yunis, the IDF said in a statement that it is "committed to fulfilling its urgent mission to rescue the hostages, and find and return the bodies of hostages that are held in Gaza." "When critical intelligence or operational information is received, the IDF conducts precise hostage rescue operations in the specific locations where information indicates that the bodies of hostages may be located," the IDF said. "The hostage identification process, conducted at a secure and alternative location, ensures optimal professional conditions and respect for the deceased. Bodies determined not be those of hostages are returned with dignity and respect." Related articles: Family of hostage Matan Angrest to reveal footage from kidnapping "Eid Mubarak". “Let us love, Let us be loved” Hamas captivity survivors take off for US Israel passes counter-proposal for ceasefire to mediators In the past, during the operation at Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the IDF also took dozens of bodies for examination and returned them when it was determined that the bodies were not of Israeli hostages. The IDF added in its statement, "If not for Hamas’ reprehensible decision to take Israeli men, women, children and babies hostages, the need for such searches for our hostages would not exist."
