The Hostages and Missing Families Forum slammed the Qatari Foreign Ministry for calling on Israel to allow the advancement of the second phase of the US-backed Gaza deal in a statement released on Sunday afternoon.
"We remind the mediators, primarily Qatar's Foreign Ministry, that the return of the hostages is the core of this agreement," the forum said. "The deal was signed to bring home 48 hostages: 20 living survivors on the first day and 28 deceased hostages within 72 hours."
"Hamas has proven it knows exactly where all the hostages are located. When it chooses to, it directs recovery teams to recover them," the statement went on.
"There can be no transition to the next phase of the agreement or any other progress until all our hostages are home. Ran Gvili and Sudthisak Rinthalak must be returned," the forum's statement concluded. "If Qatar wishes to advance to the next phase, it should use its influence over Hamas to secure the return of the remaining hostages."
In a Saturday interview with London-based Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said that implementing the second phase of the ceasefire deal should not be stalled if the remains of the final two deceased hostages are not returned.
"There were major challenges in retrieving these [remains]," Ansari said. "We do not believe that Israel should be allowed to obstruct the implementation of the agreement over the remaining two [deceased hostages]."
"At the same time, of course, efforts are ongoing on the Palestinian side to retrieve them and stop any Israeli pretexts."
The remains of two deceased hostages still remain in Gaza
The remains of deceased hostage Dror Or were identified at the National Center for Forensic Medicine on Wednesday, after being found by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the central Gaza Strip and returned to Israel.
Following Or’s return to Israel, the two deceased hostages who remain in Gaza are Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak and St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili.
The Red Cross has been working with Hamas and Gaza's other terror groups to locate the remains of the last two deceased hostages inside the area under Israel's military control in Gaza.
Searches for the remains resumed in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, an Israeli official told public broadcaster KAN News on Thursday.