Even though Hamas warned the U.S. and the Israelis that they might be unable to locate all the Israeli corpses, chances are, they are lying—and as a result, they must suffer consequences.

Here are a few of the reasons their position is in serious doubt. Hamas reportedly indicated some time ago that they didn’t know where all the corpses were; it’s unclear just when they told negotiators. That acknowledgement indicates that they knew the subject was going to be raised, but did Hamas begin to try to locate those dead hostages? If they knew that 28 were dead, why weren’t they able to identify the other 24 burial sites? Hamas trafficked some of the hostages to other terrorist groups, so why doesn’t Hamas put pressure on them to identify burial sites? Were any of the living hostages held by any of those groups?

Plenty of people are guessing about Hamas’s and Israel’s strategies regarding the corpses:

One source speculated to CNN that ‘Hamas might use the uncertainty over its ability to return all the dead hostages to draw out the implementation of any ceasefire arrangements, and to insist that it would not return all remaining hostages until Israel agrees to a full military withdrawal from Gaza’ — while another worried that ‘Netanyahu might use the uncertainty as a pretext to derail talks.’

Others predicted that Netanyahu would be ‘more likely to use the issue as leverage over the final details of an agreement’ rather than as an excuse to torpedo the whole process.

It’s possible that Hamas will refuse to turn over all the corpses as they continue to make the bodies a bargaining chip. There’s a long way to go to completely implementing the plan. The facts are that no matter the cause for “losing the bodies,” Hamas has violated the agreement:

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum says only four of the 28 bodies of dead hostages will be returned to Israel today, calling it a ‘blatant breach’ of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

[snip]

‘This represents a blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas. We expect Israel’s government and the mediators to take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice,’ the forum says, noting it is ‘shocked and dismayed.’

‘The families of the deceased hostages are enduring especially difficult days filled with deep sorrow,’ says the group. ‘We will not abandon any hostage. The mediators must enforce the agreement’s terms and ensure Hamas pays a price for this violation.’

An international effort is being made to find the missing corpses:

Under the deal signed by Israel and Hamas, an international task force will be established with participation from the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to help locate the remains of all deceased hostages. The process is expected to take considerable time. At the outset, Israel will provide precise coordinates of suspected burial sites where focused excavations will be carried out. Other areas of Gaza have been placed under closure orders to prevent reconstruction work until digs are completed, out of concern that remains may be buried there. Israel has prepared a list of excavation sites but did not expect that 24 bodies would remain in Gaza after the agreement began.

In some ways, this plan is inexplicable. How will Israel decide where burial sites likely are? Will Hamas participate in the search for corpses? Shouldn’t Hamas actively help to identify suspected burial sites, particularly since it seems odd to expect that a single body will be buried alone? Shouldn’t pressure be put on the other participating terrorist groups to determine where they may have buried corpses?

Regardless of how many corpses are missing, Hamas must be held to account before the Plan continues. Here are some possible consequences:

Given the complexity of the Peace Plan, there are probably other benefits that Hamas expects as the plan progresses. They must realize that although they think they are in charge by withholding the hostage corpses, they are not. If people in charge try to ignore this violation or hope that it goes away on its own, they will be sadly mistaken. Since the agreement has been violated, consequences are in order. Hamas must not have any reason to believe that it can break the agreement this early. It will only set a precedent for later implementation of the plan. 

We must remember that Hamas is a death cult and still pledges to drive Israel into the sea.

Update: Yesterday President Trump said they are moving into Phase 2, including disarming Hamas, even though Hamas hasn’t complied with the Phase 1; we’ll see how that goes. Hamas also managed to find four more dead hostages.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.