Hamas has turned over the remains of two more deceased Israeli captives from Gaza, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced. The Palestinian group meanwhile accused Israel of continuing to commit ceasefire violations and repudiating commitments made to peace mediators.
The prime minister’s office stated that the families of the Israeli captives have been updated on the return of the remains, although no names have been released so far. The two bodies have been transferred to the Israeli National Centre of Forensic Medicine. “Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the families,” the office said.
“The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned,” the prime minister’s office added.
With the handover late on Saturday, Hamas has now returned the remains of 12 of the 28 captives who died in Gaza. This is a key demand by Israel in the week-old ceasefire deal to end the two-year war. According to the deal, Hamas was to return all Israeli captives—both living and deceased—within 72 hours of its signing. In exchange, Israel was to release 360 bodies of deceased Palestinians and some 2,000 prisoners.
Hamas has cited the widespread devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s ongoing control of certain parts of Gaza as factors slowing the recovery of the bodies of deceased captives.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, highlighted the challenges faced by Palestinian authorities in recovering captives’ bodies from beneath the rubble. “It’s very difficult, with recovery teams on the ground facing extraordinary challenges. They have no bulldozers, no trucks, no cranes, and no heavy equipment to speed up the process and help with the recovery and return of bodies,” Mahmoud said.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan (as Al Jazeera is banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank), noted that Netanyahu’s government has known “for some time” that recovering the bodies of captives would be “an incredibly difficult and daunting task.” However, Netanyahu has accused Hamas of not doing enough to return the remains of the 28 captives, insisting all bodies need to be returned immediately.
“Until that happens, Israel is going to withhold honoring more commitments of the ceasefire, such as allowing in more humanitarian assistance and opening the Rafah border crossing,” Salhut explained.
For days, Hamas and Israel have traded blame over violations of the US-mediated ceasefire.
On Saturday, Hamas accused the Netanyahu government of “fabricating flimsy pretexts” to avoid fulfilling its commitments under the peace deal. It also condemned Israel’s refusal to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt as “a blatant violation” of the agreement.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed 11 members of a single family, including seven children, in an attack east of Gaza City.
The Palestinian Embassy in Egypt announced earlier on Saturday that the Rafah crossing—the main gateway for people in Gaza to leave and enter the enclave—would reopen on Monday. However, Netanyahu said the border crossing would remain closed until Hamas hands over the bodies of all deceased Israeli captives.
The delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza also remains slow despite the ceasefire deal.
On Saturday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it had enough food supplies to feed Gaza for three months. However, trucks carrying this life-saving aid are stuck in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt, unable to enter Gaza.
“We must be allowed to get all this aid into Gaza without delay,” UNRWA said, adding that it also has equipment ready to provide shelter to as many as 1.3 million people.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/19/hamas-returns-bodies-of-two-more-captives-says-israel-violating-ceasefire?traffic_source=rss
