A vehicle transporting the bodies of four hostages delivered to the National Forensic Medicine Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 15, 2025. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
Israeli threats against Hamas escalated on Wednesday, October 15. Although the Islamist organization agreed to return the bodies of deceased hostages in its possession within 72 hours of the ceasefire's start under Donald Trump's peace plan, Israel argued that Hamas was not fulfilling its commitments. On Monday, four bodies were transferred from Gaza to Israel via the International Committee of the Red Cross NGO. On Tuesday, four more bodies were returned, one of which turned out to be a Palestinian. On Wednesday night, two additional bodies were handed over to the army, which confirmed their identities Thursday morning.
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Israel rejoices in the return of hostages and looks toward an uncertain future: 'Our hearts are forever broken'
Hamas stated that the nine bodies corresponded to hostages in its custody or that it had access to. The organization behind the October 7 attack, during which 251 people were kidnapped and 1,200 were killed, stated that the whereabouts of the remaining 19 bodies were still unknown. On Wednesday, the armed wing of Hamas said, "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. As for the other bodies, recovering and extracting them requires significant effort and special equipment. We are making every possible effort to close this file."
