Israel accused Hamas of failing to stand by the commitments it agreed to under the ceasefire agreement after it only said it would release the bodies of four dead hostages on Monday.
Hamas said the bodies of Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi and Daniel Perez would be handed over. The IDF said troops in the Gaza Strip received two caskets, with the apparent bodies of slain hostages, from the Red Cross on Monday evening.
The Red Cross also collected two more caskets from Hamas and was bringing them to the same location, the IDF said.
Earlier on Monday, the terror group returned the last 20 living hostages it was holding, following the partial withdrawal by the Israeli military in the Strip, and ahead of planned talks on the enclave’s future. However, it remained mum on the fate of the 24 other dead hostages it was holding.
The fate of Joshi, a Nepali agricultural student, had not been confirmed by Israel, but it expressed “grave concern” about him. Illouz was taken from the Nova festival and succumbed to his wounds in a Gaza hospital, apparently due to a lack of medical treatment. His death was confirmed in December 2023.
Perez, 22, a platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Yad Binyamin, was killed battling Hamas on October 7, 2023. Sharabi, 53, the brother of freed hostage Eli Sharabi, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped from his home on October 7 and slain in captivity.
The Red Cross will bring their caskets to IDF troops inside Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held in their memory, the Israel Defense Forces said. The caskets will also be examined by sappers “for security purposes,” according to the military.
The caskets with civilian hostages will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification, while the bodies of slain soldiers will be taken to the IDF’s Shura Camp.
The identification process may take up to two days, according to officials.
The terror group had told mediators it did not know where some of the bodies of the 28 slain hostages were located. Israel was aware of this when it signed the agreement, which demanded Hamas release all the captives, living and dead, within 72 hours of the IDF’s initial withdrawal from Gaza.
The IDF completed its withdrawal by noon on Friday, commencing the 72-hour period. Israel released some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
An Israeli official told CNN this week that seven to nine bodies might not be retrieved, while another put the figure at between 10 and 15. The report was not publicly confirmed by Israeli authorities.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Israeli mediators are intensively working to try to increase the number of bodies released on Monday.
In response to the limited release of bodies, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that if Hamas were intentionally delaying the return of the dead hostages, it would be a violation of the agreement.
“The urgent mission we are all committed to now is to ensure the return of all the fallen hostages home,” he wrote on X.
“Hamas’s announcement of the expected return of four bodies today constitutes a failure to meet its commitments,” Katz said, adding that “any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a blatant violation of the agreement and will be met accordingly.”
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel is demanding that Hamas uphold its end of the deal.
“We have been informed that later today, approximately four fallen hostages will be returned. Even at this hour, efforts are being made at all levels to exert pressure for the continuation of the process to return the bodies of the fallen,” Defrin said in a video statement.
“We demand that Hamas uphold its part of the agreement. We do not forget them (the hostages) for a moment and will not rest until all return to their families and to burial in Israel,” he said.
Additionally, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum demanded a “severe response,” calling for an “immediate halt to the implementation of the agreement until the full and complete release of all the fallen.”
“The violation of the agreement by Hamas must be met with a very severe response from the government and the mediators,” the forum said.
“An agreement must be respected by both sides, if Hamas does not fulfill its part, Israel should not fulfill its part either,” the forum said.
“We demand all 28 hostages. We will not give up on anyone, down to the last hostage,” the forum stated.
Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities devastated by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, also urged an “immediate” government response to the “disgrace.”
“Hamas’s failure to abide by the agreement cannot be ignored. A strong response is required from the government and the mediators. We demand the return of all the fallen hostages and express our horror, deep pain, and utter fear that the dead will disappear,” the community said in a statement.