Hamas has handed over more bodies of Israeli hostages after the US President threatened to ‘violently’ disarm the terror group.
The IDF has stated it has received four bodies which were handed over by the Red Cross, following four that were handed over earlier.
The Israeli military released a statement earlier on the release of the deceased Israeli hostages: ‘According to information provided by the Red Cross, four coffins of deceased hostages have been transferred into their custody and are on their way to IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) forces in the Gaza Strip’.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it facilitated the transfer of the four deceased hostages to Israel and the bodies of 45 Palestinians to Gaza today.
‘These operations were carried out in line with the ceasefire agreement, and it is crucial that the parties and mediators ensure the agreement is faithfully upheld,’ it said.
Julian Lerisson, the head of the Red Cross in the region, says the organisation is ‘prepared to fulfil our role for as long as it takes’.
It comes after Donald Trump threatened to forcibly disarm Hamas if they refuse to give up their weapons as the Gaza ceasefire deal hangs by a thread.
‘They will disarm – and if they don’t I’m gonna make them disarm,’ the president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. ‘They know what I mean.’
Trump warned that America stood ready to bring about Hamas’s disarmament ‘quickly and perhaps violently.’
The families of at least 24 others are still waiting for their loved ones to be brought home.
‘We informed the mediators that we will hand over four to six bodies of Israeli prisoners tonight,’ a Hamas official said on Tuesday.
Earlier, Israeli officials said the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed at least through Wednesday, with aid deliveries into Gaza reduced to pressure Hamas to return the remaining bodies.
Red Cross teams are searching Gaza’s ruins for deceased hostages after Israel warned Hamas it had until tonight to deliver the rest.
But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned the process could take considerable time given the difficulty of recovering bodies from the rubble.
‘The search for human remains is obviously an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released,’ ICRC spokesperson Christian Cardon said in Geneva, adding it could take days or weeks.
A copy of the ceasefire agreement published by Israeli media had stated that the remains of all of the deceased hostages should be handed over by 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday – but it also appeared to acknowledge that Hamas and other Palestinian factions may not be able to locate all of them within that timeframe.
It comes after Israel’s far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, released a statement before the latest handover of deceased hostages to the Red Cross.
In his statement, Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt aid to Gaza if Hamas does not immediately return all of the hostages’ bodies.
Ben-Gvir, who was sanctioned by the UK earlier this year, said the fact Hamas was yet to return 24 bodies to Israel indicated the ‘mission to destroy it [Hamas] has not yet been achieved’.
Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal, while Israel released busloads of Palestinian detainees as US President Donald Trump declared an end to the two-year war.
Only the coffins of Guy Iluz, 26, Bipin Joshi, 33, Yossi Sharabi, 54, and Daniel Peretz, 22, have so far been returned to Israel, leaving more than 20 bodies still unaccounted for.
Israel is also expected to hand over an unspecified number of Palestinian remains.
The ICRC said it has deployed 23 additional staff, body bags and refrigerated vehicles to help ensure the dead are treated with dignity in Gaza, much of which lies in ruins.
It said it was a ‘massive challenge’ given the difficulties of finding bodies in Gaza’s rubble.
Palestinian militant group Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal, and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees as US President Donald Trump declared an end to the two-year war.
For its part, Israel is supposed to hand over an unspecified number of Palestinian bodies.
But ICRC spokesperson Cardon said: ‘I think there is clearly a risk that that will take much more time. What we are telling the parties is that that should be their top priority,’ he said on Tuesday.
‘All parties must ensure that the return of human remains is done under dignified conditions, and uphold dignity and humanity,’ the ICRC added in a statement.
Cardon declined to discuss further details about the possible whereabouts of the deceased hostages, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing operation.
It is, however, feared that some of the remains may never be located.
Cardon praised the fact that the handover of the 20 living hostages on Monday was done discreetly, without a repeat of the Hamas-directed hostage release ceremonies of previous transfers.
The ICRC, a neutral humanitarian intermediary, has facilitated the transfer of 172 hostages and 3,473 Palestinian detainees since the war began on October 7, 2023.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
