US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner tells CBS’ 60 Minutes that he believes Hamas is actually looking for the bodies of deceased hostages, and is not intentionally dragging out the process of returning them to Israel. As of early Monday, Hamas has yet to return 16 of the 28 deceased hostages that were still in Gaza when the ceasefire deal came into effect on October 10.
The terror group has said it is unable to immediately locate the remaining bodies due to the level of destruction in the Gaza Strip, but Israel has accused the terror group of lying, claiming that it has access to most of them and could hand them over at any time.
Asked about the conflicting accounts and the US’s role in navigating the differences, Kushner says there has been “a very intense effort on behalf of our joint center with Israel and with the mediators in order to convey whatever information Israel has on the whereabouts of the bodies to the mediators and to Hamas– in order to retrieve them.
The US is trying to “push both sides to be proactive in terms of finding a solution instead of blaming each other for breakdowns,” Kushner says. Pressed on whether he believes Hamas is “acting in good faith — seriously looking for the bodies,” Kushner answers in the affirmative. “As far as we’ve seen from what’s being conveyed to us from the mediators, they are so far,” he says. “That could break down at any minute, but right now– we have seen them looking to honor their agreement.” (Read More)
