The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until Wednesday and the flow of aid to the Palestinian enclave will be reduced, three Israeli officials said today.

The decision was made after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas failed to hand over the bodies of hostages it is holding under the new ceasefire agreement, the officials said, without saying more about the duration of the measure.

Both Hamas and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have explained that it will take time to return the bodies of the hostages, highlighting the difficulties within the enclave of locating them under the rubble.

Yesterday, Hamas released 20 live hostages and handed over the bodies of four dead ones, while 24 bodies still remain in Gaza. Today, the organization informed mediators that it will hand over four more bodies of dead Israeli hostages to Israel.

Red Cross: It will take time

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that it will take time to hand over the bodies of hostages and prisoners killed in the war, calling it a huge challenge given the difficulties of finding them among the ruins of Gaza.

This is an even bigger challenge than releasing the hostages alive. It is a huge challenge, said ICRC spokesman Christian Cardon, adding that it could take days or weeks and that there was also a possibility that they would never be found.

We urge the dignified management of the deceased as we continue our operations to facilitate the transfer of human remains as part of the ceasefire agreement.

Families grieving the loss of their loved ones have already endured unimaginable pain.https://t.co/2xNohAYBCK

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) October 14, 2025

What does the agreement provide?

Specifically, the agreement stipulated that Hamas should have released within 72 hours, after the ceasefire – that is, by noon on Monday – all 20 hostages alive, as it did, as well as the bodies of all the dead hostages it is holding or is able to locate.

He also left open the possibility that, if Hamas has information about the dead hostages whose bodies it cannot recover within that time limit, the details could be passed on to mediators for follow-up at a later stage.

According to a CNN report published last week, three Israeli officials had confirmed that Hamas may not be able to identify all 28 dead hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has known for months that this possibility existed, according to the same officials.