Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Hamas on Monday of violating the ceasefire agreement by only handing over the bodies of four dead hostages, while the remains of 24 other captives remain in Gaza.

"Hamas's announcement of the expected return of four bodies today is a breach of its commitments. Any delay or deliberate evasion will be considered a serious violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly," Katz said on his X account.

Hamas had previously reported that it did not have access to all the bodies. This Monday, in addition to the four bodies, it handed over to Israel the 20 remaining hostages, while the families of the captives had previously denounced the failure to comply with the agreement.

Bodies handed over by Hamas

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the remains belong to Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi, and Daniel Perez."Four coffins containing the deceased hostages are being escorted by IDF (Armed Forces) and Shin Bet (Israeli Internal Security Service) forces to Israel, where they will be transferred to the National Center for Forensic Medicine for identification," they stated.

The Israeli military warned: "Hamas must respect the agreement and take the necessary measures to return all the deceased hostages." Katz, for his part, asserted that"the urgent task to which we are all committed is to ensure the return home of all the deceased hostages."

The day before, authorities announced that not all of the dead hostages would be returned and that, if necessary, they would resort to an"international organization" provided for in the US-backed plan. In this context, the army explained that the Red Cross received two coffins of deceased hostages and sent them to Israeli forces, while the other two coffins had already been received previously.

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