Hamas returns four more bodies of hostages, Israeli military says

Hamas has returned the bodies of four more deceased hostages, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said.

The Red Cross retrieved the remains in coffins and handed them over to the Israeli military late on Tuesday night.

The transfer came after Israel warned it would restrict aid into Gaza until Hamas returned the bodies of all 28 deceased hostages. The Palestinian armed group handed back 20 living and four deceased hostages on Monday.

The remains of 45 deceased Palestinians who had been held in Israel were returned to Gaza on Tuesday, the Red Cross said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan, which both Israel and Hamas accepted, envisaged the handover of all 48 hostages would be completed by noon on Monday.

While all living hostages were returned, pressure is growing on Hamas and the Israeli government over the remains of 20 hostages which Hamas has not yet repatriated.

In a statement on Tuesday, the IDF said: "Hamas is required to fulfil its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families and to proper burial."

Israel's defence minister has warned the Palestinian armed group that "any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly".

Israeli officials said they had decided to restrict aid and delay plans to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt because Hamas had violated the ceasefire deal by failing to turn over bodies of hostages.

Hamas says it has had difficulty locating the dead hostages' remains.

A copy of the ceasefire agreement, published by Israeli media last week, appeared to acknowledge that Hamas and other Palestinian factions might not be able to locate all of the bodies within the original timeframe.

An Israeli official has suggested that an international task force will start work to locate the remains of anyone who was not returned.

"A big burden has been lifted, but the job is NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase two begins right NOW!!!" Trump said on X.

Almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released as part of the 20-point peace plan, touted by the US president as the end of the two-year war.

The first phase of Trump's plan saw the ceasefire come into effect at 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on 10 October.

Trump signed the declaration on Monday, alongside the leaders of Egypt and Qatar - the main mediators - and Turkey, which played a significant role in the latter stages of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were among more than 20 world leaders attending - including many from Muslim and Arab countries. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas did not take part.

The plan would see Gaza initially governed by a transitional committee of Palestinian technocrats overseen by the "Board of Peace", before power is eventually transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) once it has undergone reforms.

But difficult negotiations will be needed in order to move forward with the latter phases of the plan.

Among the points of contention are the extent and timeline of Israeli troop withdrawal, the disarmament of Hamas, and the future governance of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has previously said it will not disarm unless a Palestinian state was established - and has rejected the idea of foreign governance in Gaza.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 67,869 people have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.