Only 10 bodies have been turned over so far, threatening the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. But both sides have known that recovering remains could take longer than expected.After turning over the bodies of 10 people it claimed were deceased hostages this week, Hamas said in a statement Wednesday night that without “special equipment” it would not be able to find or release any more — a revelation that could put its ceasefire with Israel at risk.
“If Hamas refuses to abide by the agreement, Israel, in coordination with the U.S., will return to fighting and work to completely defeat Hamas, change the reality in Gaza and achieve all the goals of the war,” the office of Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, said in a subsequent statement.
Hamas emphasized that it had “committed to what was agreed upon and handed over everyone it had in terms of living captives and what it had in terms of bodies that it could recover.” But it also said “special equipment” would be required to extract the remains of any further hostages from the ruins of Gaza, adding that it was “making great efforts” to fulfill its part of the deal.In accordance with the terms of the open-ended ceasefire deal signed last week, 20 hostages in Gaza were returned to Israel on Monday in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Speaking to Israeli lawmakers, President Trump hailed the swap as “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
But in one respect it fell short. Hamas had also agreed to turn over the bodies of at least 26 hostages who died in captivity. (The precise status of two other captives is unknown.) Yet so far — days after the end of the 72-hour window stipulated by the truce — only eight coffins have been received by the Israeli military.
Israel has identified six of those bodies as Israeli and one as Nepali. The identity of the eighth is not yet clear. Hamas gave two additional coffins to the Red Cross on Wednesday night.In Israel, the missing remains have sparked recriminations — and threatened the fragile truce in Gaza.
“This represents a blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, an Israeli advocacy group, claimed in a statement. “The families of the deceased hostages are enduring especially difficult days filled with deep sorrow. … The mediators must enforce the agreement’s terms and ensure Hamas pays a price for this violation.”
Writing on Truth Social, President Trump agreed that “the job is not done” because “the dead have not been returned, as promised.”
Is Hamas deliberately defying the terms of the ceasefire? Or is there a reason why the remains of some deceased hostages haven’t been returned to Israel yet?On Monday, Hamas announced that the bodies of Daniel Perez, Yossi Sharabi, Guy Iluz and Bipin Joshi would be turned over by noon local time — but that’s all. The Israeli military announced a few hours later that it had received four coffins, adding that they will undergo forensic inspection to identify the remains. Hamas handed over other remains throughout the early part of the week — but dozens of bodies are still missing.
Yet none of this came as a surprise.
Though Hamas was technically required to release all hostages, alive and dead, by noon Monday, negotiators for the militant group had previously indicated that recovering the bodies of some deceased hostages could take longer — a claim that Israeli intelligence had independently confirmed, according to a recent CNN report.“Sources say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet have known for months that Hamas does not know the whereabouts of some of the deceased hostages and may therefore be unable to meet that demand,” CNN reported, putting the most recent count in the “single figures” (while noting that earlier intelligence assessments had suggested a higher number). The Times of Israel reported that anywhere from seven to 15 bodies may be missing.
CNN also reported that the U.S. has “known about the issue for some time,” and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said as much in his meeting Saturday night with the hostages’ families, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
The likeliest explanation for why some bodies are still missing? Several of the deceased hostages were held by factions that Hamas doesn’t fully control, making recovery amid the rubble of Gaza even more challenging.
“It’s been the case from the outset that they [Hamas] have not had control over all of the hostages,” Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs under former President Joe Biden, told CNN. “It’s far more likely they can recover all of the living hostages.”Regardless, authorities plan to do everything possible to reunite Israeli families with their deceased loved ones. After Israel verifies the identities of the bodies it has already received, a joint multinational task force — which will include investigators from Turkey, Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. — will scour the Gaza Strip for other remains.
“We demand, expect, and work for 100% effort from Hamas, with the assistance of the international force, in order to complete the mission and bring back all the fallen hostages for burial in Israel,” Gal Hirsch, Israel hostage point person, told families over the weekend.
“Bringing their bodies home is a must and an act of dignity and honors their memory forever,” Witkoff added on social media.
Speaking Monday in Egypt, Trump confirmed that “next steps” in Gaza would include “going and looking for bodies.”“It’s a pretty gruesome task,” Trump said. “They know where numbers are. … They know the areas. They’re going to be finding quite a few of them.»
The longer that process takes, however, the greater the diplomatic repercussions could be.
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.