The Hamas terror group handed over the ostensible remains of three deceased hostages to the Red Cross on Sunday evening, with the bodies then transferred to Israeli authorities, who were working to confirm their identities.

If the bodies are confirmed to belong to hostages, it would leave eight deceased hostages still in Gaza. Hamas has previously transferred remains that did not belong to any of the deceased hostages being held in the Strip.

According to a Hamas statement, the hostages’ bodies were recovered earlier Sunday from a tunnel. In the statement, the group published a picture showing a body bag with the name of a deceased hostage on it, while the other two were not named.

The group transferred the caskets to representatives from the Red Cross in southern Gaza, who then escorted the remains to IDF forces inside Gaza. After arrival in Israel, the bodies were taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

Hamas last handed over the remains of two deceased hostages, Amiram Cooper, 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25, on Thursday. The two bodies were identified within hours of arrival in Israel, and were buried on Sunday.

Israel has accused the terror group of dragging its feet on the requirement that it return all of the captives, as agreed in the ceasefire that came into place on October 10. The agreement required Hamas to return all 20 living hostages within 72 hours, and all 28 deceased hostages it could locate within that time frame as well — with Israel assessing that Hamas did not know the location of only a small number of bodies. While the group followed through in handing over all 20 living hostages, it only returned four of the 28 bodies still held in Gaza within the required timeframe. It has since slowly returned another 13 bodies.

PM vows to ‘eliminate’ last Hamas men in IDF-held areas

Hours earlier, speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there were two remaining Hamas pockets in Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza, one in Rafah and one in Khan Younis.

“They will be eliminated,” he promised.

Hamas’s “attempts to deceive us, the US, and the world” are pathetic, he said. “They will not succeed, and we will gradually bring back all our hostages. This is our commitment.”

“My directive is unequivocal,” Netanyahu said, stressing that the protection of troops in Gaza was his priority. “If there is any attempt to harm our soldiers, we strike those who attack and their networks — in defense of our troops.”

“We report to our American friends, but we do not seek their permission,” he insisted, after growing claims that key decisions on Gaza are being made by the White House. “I hear statements that are simply untrue. We retain full security responsibility and will not relinquish it.”

Promising that Hamas will be disarmed, and that Gaza will be demilitarized, Netanyahu asserted: “It is an understanding I share with President Trump, and we are acting according to a clear framework. If it cannot be achieved one way, it will be achieved another way — and everyone knows what that other way is, and who will carry it out.”

As Netanyahu spoke to his cabinet about the importance of combating Hamas in IDF-controlled areas of the Strip, the military announced that it had killed a terror operative in Gaza City earlier Sunday after he crossed the Yellow Line, which demarcates the area of the military’s withdrawal.

The operative had approached troops “in a way that posed an immediate threat,” the military said, adding that shortly after he was identified, the Israeli Air Force struck him “to remove the threat.”

Palestinian media also reported that one person was killed in the strike, which took place in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood.

As Hamas looks to regain control over the Strip’s civilian affairs during the ceasefire, Telegram channels affiliated with the group reported that operatives shut down several shawarma restaurants Saturday along Salah al-Din Road, which runs down the length of the Strip, as part of efforts to regulate food prices.

According to the reports, the restaurants were selling chicken at inflated prices, higher than what Hamas had permitted.

In recent days, lists of regulated food prices — apparently set by Hamas — have circulated on social media, outlining the rates that vendors must adhere to.

Hamas denies looting aid trucks

Also on Sunday, Hamas issued a statement saying that US accusations the terror group looted an aid convoy in Gaza were “false.”

“The accusations by the US Central Command are false, lack field evidence, and are part of a systematic disinformation campaign,” said a statement issued by the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

The statement came a day after the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) published a drone video showing what it said were suspected Hamas operatives looting an aid truck in the southern Strip on Friday.

US Drone Observes Aid Truck Looted by Hamas in Gaza

TAMPA, Fla. – On Oct. 31, the U.S.-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) observed suspected Hamas operatives looting an aid truck traveling as part of a humanitarian convoy delivering needed assistance from…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 1, 2025

In a statement, CENTCOM said the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) — which is based in southern Israel’s Kiryat Gat — “observed suspected Hamas operatives looting an aid truck traveling as part of a humanitarian convoy delivering needed assistance from international partners to Gazans in northern Khan Younis.”

The CMCC, established under US leadership, is designed to coordinate humanitarian, logistical, and security assistance into Gaza while helping oversee the postwar stabilization phase. Roughly 200 American military personnel have been dispatched to set up the center, which currently hosts troops from several allied countries.

The CMCC was alerted to the incident through video surveillance from an American MQ-9 drone flying over Gaza as part of monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has said that Hamas steals supplies from deliveries by the UN and international aid groups. The UN has reported a significant decline in the looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza since the ceasefire came into place.

Just five percent of collected supplies were reportedly intercepted between October 10 and October 28, compared to more than 80% that were intercepted between May 19 and October 9, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said during a briefing on Friday.

The UN admitted in August that almost nine out of every 10 UN trucks that entered Gaza with humanitarian aid over the preceding several months were looted before reaching their destination, according to UN statistics — either by hungry Gazans or by armed groups.