Israel receives bodies of three more Gaza hostages – SUCH TV

Israel announced on Sunday that it had received the remains of three additional captives from Hamas as part of the ongoing hostage-prisoner exchange under the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The fragile truce, in place since October 10, has largely held despite occasional flare-ups, with the deal focusing on the return of all Israeli hostages, both alive and deceased.

“Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffins of three fallen hostages, which were handed over to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza,” said the Prime Minister’s Office.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed that the bodies had arrived at a national forensic center for identification and investigation into the circumstances and causes of death. Experts will then meet with the families of the deceased to discuss the findings.

Hamas’s armed wing reported that the remains were found earlier Sunday “along the route of one of the tunnels in southern Gaza.”

At the time of the ceasefire, Hamas was holding 48 hostages in Gaza, including 20 confirmed alive.

Since the truce, the group has released the surviving captives and begun handing over the remains of 28 deceased hostages, of which 17 have been returned so far—including 15 Israelis, one Thai national, and one Nepali.

Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the return of the bodies, while the Palestinian group maintains that many remains are buried under Gaza’s rubble, slowing the process.

Hamas has repeatedly requested mediators and the Red Cross to provide equipment and personnel for body recovery.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated that Sunday’s handover demonstrated the group’s ongoing efforts to return the bodies as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, an Israeli campaign group representing hostage families urged the government to act decisively to ensure all deceased hostages are returned.

“The Hostage Families demand that the prime minister act with determination to ensure Hamas fulfills its commitments under the agreement and returns all deceased hostages to Israel,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Life is impossible

In addition to returning the bodies of the 17 hostages, Hamas has also handed over partial remains of a hostage whose body was recovered by the Israeli army last year.

That incident sparked outrage in Israel, which accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement by returning only partial remains instead of a complete body of another hostage.

“We call for the return of all 11 deceased hostages who have still not been returned to Israeli soil,” Inbal Bachar, aunt of Sahar Baruch, whose remains were handed over earlier this week, said during Baruch’s funeral on Sunday.

“We cannot continue our lives until they all return,” she said, according to a statement issued by the forum.

In Gaza, Palestinians have been hoping that an Israeli military withdrawal will follow the truce and bring an end to their ordeal.

“We want the second phase of the agreement to begin so that we can return to our homes,” said Naif al-Sulaibi, a resident of Jabalia in northern Gaza.

“As long as the Yellow Line and the army remain here, life is impossible and conditions will stay unbearable,” he added, referring to the de facto boundary marking Israeli military positions inside Gaza.

The implementation of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan has yet to be agreed, particularly as it concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority and deploying an international stabilisation force in Gaza.