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.
