Politics Hamas hands over more hostage bodies - Israel exerts pressure
The struggle over the return of dead hostages in the Gaza Strip is jeopardizing the peace process. Israel accuses the Islamist Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement, as not all 28 dead hostages have been handed over as agreed.
15.10.2025, 05:34
15.10.2025, 08:12
SDA
However, after the terrorist organization handed over another four bodies on Tuesday evening - a total of eight so far - Israel's political leadership decided to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt today as agreed and to allow 600 trucks carrying aid supplies into Gaza.
According to the Times of Israel, Israel had decided on Tuesday not to open the Rafah border crossing today and to reduce aid deliveries in order to exert pressure on Hamas. According to Kan, the fact that these steps are now not being taken is also due to reports that Hamas wants to hand over four more dead hostages to Israel today.
Hamas had previously stated that there were difficulties in locating the remains in the rubble after two years of war. According to the media, Israel considered this to be a delaying tactic.
Trump: dead not returned as promised
US President Donald Trump also put pressure on Hamas. Following the release of the remaining 20 live hostages by Hamas on Monday in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, Trump wrote in capital letters on his Truth Social platform the following day that the work was "not finished". The dead had not been returned "as promised".
After Hamas had initially handed over four bodies on Monday, it handed over coffins containing the presumed remains of four more dead hostages to employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday evening. According to Israeli media, the bodies arrived at the forensic institute in Tel Aviv during the night, where they are now to be identified.
All four bodies handed over on Monday have now been identified, including that of Nepalese agricultural student Bipin Joshi. According to Israeli information, the 23-year-old was murdered while held hostage in the first few months after his abduction on October 7, 2023. Israel expressed its condolences to Nepal after his body was returned.
The US news site "Axios" quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Hamas had apparently not realized until Tuesday how seriously Israel was taking the issue of returning the dead hostages. Relatives are demanding that the fight continue until the last dead hostages are handed over.
Hostage families: fight for body repatriation continues
The father of Omri Miran, who was released on Monday, called on Israel's government to insist on the exact implementation of the Trump plan. The first phase must be completed before further steps are taken, he said. "Only after the last hostage is returned will we find peace," he said.
The next phase of the agreement provides for the disarmament of Hamas, among other things. The US news site "Axios" quoted a US official and another informed source as saying that Hamas had agreed to give up its heavy weapons - mainly rockets and grenades - but insisted on keeping its small arms for self-defense.
Trump: Hamas will be disarmed by force if necessary
Trump said on Tuesday that the terrorist organization had promised him that it would lay down its weapons. "And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them, and that will happen quickly and perhaps violently". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US television station CBS News that he was hopeful that the next phase of the agreement would be peaceful, but that Trump's conditions were "very clear": Hamas must be demilitarized, otherwise "all hell will break loose".
"First, Hamas must give up its weapons," Netanyahu told the broadcaster in Tel Aviv. "And secondly, it must be ensured that there are no weapons factories in Gaza. There must be no smuggling of weapons into Gaza. That is demilitarization," Netanyahu continued, according to CBS. According to journalists traveling with him during his flight to Israel, Trump had said that his administration had allowed Hamas to temporarily play a limited role in enforcing security measures. The Islamist organization is trying to restore order in the Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the ceasefire on Friday, Hamas has deployed armed security forces in parts of the Gaza Strip from which Israeli troops have withdrawn, according to media reports. Reports of executions by Hamas and shootouts with rival forces are worrying people in the Gaza Strip.
A video was published on Platform X showing a group shooting of around eight people in a square south of the city of Gaza. The square is surrounded by a large crowd of onlookers.
Disturbing reports of shootings
Eyewitnesses told the German Press Agency that Hamas had accused those killed of being collaborators with the Israeli army. The authenticity of the video and the reports could not initially be independently verified. Videos that cannot be immediately verified show that some of the victims were apparently tortured before being shot. According to unconfirmed reports, there are allegedly summary trials in which members of the Hamas security apparatus hand down death sentences.
Following the partial withdrawal of the Israeli army last week and the start of the ceasefire, there were also reports of shootouts between Hamas and rival gangs. Dozens of people are said to have been killed. These reports could not initially be independently verified either.
There are doubts as to whether Hamas will actually relinquish power in the Gaza Strip and lay down its weapons as envisaged in US President Trump's peace plan, wrote the Wall Street Journal. Some Palestinians feared that Israel could resume the war.
Report of deaths in Israeli attack in Gaza
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, three people were killed in an Israeli drone attack in the city of Gaza. Israel's army stated that several people had approached Israeli positions and posed a threat. This was a violation of the ceasefire agreement. As the people had not retreated despite repeated requests, fire had been opened and "the threat eliminated".
In the meantime, Israel has handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians as part of the agreement with Hamas. The remains were brought to the Gaza Strip with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to medical circles in the coastal strip. The bodies are now to be identified at the Nasser Hospital in Chan Junis in southern Gaza. The families should then be able to bury their dead relatives.
