Israeli defense minister vowed to resume fighting on Wednesday if Hamas did not follow the conditions of a US-brokered ceasefire that ended the war in Gaza.
The announcement from Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office came after Hamas handed over the corpses of two more hostages and stated that it would be difficult to recover any more bodies from Gaza’s ruins without specialized equipment.
Since Monday, under a cease-fire arrangement negotiated by US President Donald Trump, the Palestinian Islamist group has given over 20 surviving hostages to Israel in exchange for over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Before the two bodies were given over late Wednesday, Hamas had already returned the remains of seven of the 28 known deceased captives, as well as an eighth body that Israel said was not that of a former hostage.
“If Hamas refuses to comply with the agreement, Israel, in coordination with the United States, will resume fighting and act to achieve a total defeat of Hamas, to change the reality in Gaza, and to achieve all the objectives of the war,” a statement from Katz’s office said.
Hamas’s armed wing stated that the two bodies returned would be the last for now—falling far short of the plan’s demand to hand over all of them.
“The Resistance has fulfilled its commitment to the agreement by handing over all living Israeli prisoners in its custody, as well as the corpses it could access,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement on social media.
“As for the remaining corpses, it requires extensive efforts and special equipment for their retrieval and extraction. We are exerting great effort in order to close this file.”
This will undoubtedly increase political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to link humanitarian help to the fate of the bodies.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, has threatened to cut off vitally needed assistance supplies to Gaza if Hamas does not release the remains of troops still held in the Palestinian enclave.
Meanwhile, Israel delivered another 45 Palestinian bodies held in its custody to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, bringing the total number returned to 90, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
According to the Trump plan, Israel must return 15 Palestinian dead for every deceased Israeli hostage.
With the agreement underway, UN humanitarian head Tom Fletcher asked Israel to promptly open all borders into Gaza for humanitarian aid.
“It should happen now. We want it to happen immediately as part of this agreement,” Fletcher told AFP in an interview in Cairo on Wednesday, ahead of a planned trip to the Gaza border.
The Israeli public radio KAN stated that the Rafah crossing point with Egypt will reopen, but this did not occur, and an Israeli spokeswoman did not respond to an AFP request for information.
Fletcher, the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency aid, is set to visit the Rafah crossing on Thursday.
It is the only border crossing between Gaza and the rest of the world that does not require traveling through Israel.
“The test is that we have children fed, that we have anesthetics in the hospitals for people getting treatment, and that we have tents over people’s heads,” Fletcher said.
According to Gaza’s civil defense organization, which works as a rescue squad under Hamas, Israeli fire killed three Palestinians on Wednesday, two of whom were trying to enter their houses in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood.
The Israeli military stated that “several suspects were identified crossing the yellow line and approaching” troops in the northern Gaza Strip, referring to the line to which Israeli forces have pulled back under the ceasefire agreement.
The military claimed this “violates the agreement” and that “troops removed the threat by striking the suspects.”
The conflict initiated by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, with the densely populated enclave relying on aid that was severely constrained, if not cut off entirely.
At the end of August, the United Nations proclaimed a famine in Gaza, although Israel denied the accusation. The resumption of supplies is part of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
Another political challenge is Hamas’ disarming, which the militant organization has refused to embrace.
Hamas is extending its hold on Gaza’s wrecked cities, but Israel and the US insist it cannot have a part in the territory’s future administration.
