Israel said Thursday it would increase pressure on Hamas to return the remaining 19 bodies of deceased hostages, with a task force reportedly already having entered Gaza for that purpose.
After the Palestinian terror group insisted that the bodies it has returned so far are the only ones it can currently locate, a senior official told Israel’s Channel 12 that “there is a double-digit number of hostages that it can return.”
Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report on Channel 13 said that an international team set up to locate remaining bodies had entered the Strip within the previous 24 hours, and was set to begin its work soon, based on intelligence provided by Israel.
Hamas has returned the remains of nine deceased hostages since it accepted the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, which on Monday saw the release of the final 20 living hostages still held by terror groups in the Strip.
The US-brokered ceasefire deal, signed in Egypt on October 9, obligated Hamas to release “all Israeli hostages, living and deceased,” within 72 hours of Israeli troops’ October 10 partial withdrawal — a deadline that expired at noon on Monday. But the agreement also acknowledged that some hostages’ remains would likely not be retrieved right away.
Hamas claimed Thursday night that it was unable to return additional bodies without equipment to clear rubble, contradicting Jerusalem’s assessment — as conveyed to The Times of Israel by an Israeli official — that Hamas would be able to return the bodies of the majority of the 28 deceased hostages within the initial window.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Israel had told mediators it believes Hamas knows the location of at least six other bodies. A senior Israeli official, meanwhile, told Channel 12: “There is a double-digit number of hostages that [Hamas] can return.”
According to the network, security officials were suggesting Thursday that until more bodies are returned, Israel should prevent materials for rebuilding Gaza from entering the Strip, and/or delay the opening of the Rafah Crossing for people.
Egypt has delivered a stern message to Hamas that it must meet its obligations under the ceasefire deal, but is also urging Israel not to apply additional pressure on Hamas yet, the outlet said.
Israel seeks to pressure Hamas, Trump reportedly gives his OK
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Thursday with close advisers to discuss potential steps that Israel could take to pressure Hamas.
The government’s point man on the hostages, Gal Hirsch, told the families of the remaining deceased hostages that Hamas is indeed set to face increased pressure, but he declined to elaborate.
Israel has described the paucity of returned bodies thus far as “a fundamental breach of the agreement,” but the US, which brokered the deal, has been less accusatory.
“We will pursue the return of the bodies of the deceased until they all come home. And I’m confident they will all come home,” said White House envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday, at a US Holocaust Memorial Museum event commemorating the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which started the Gaza war.
Overnight, the terror group said it would take time to return the remaining bodies, as they are allegedly buried in tunnels destroyed by Israel or under the rubble of buildings damaged in Israeli strikes.
Israel has insisted that while some bodies may be in this situation, Hamas currently holds others that it could easily return right away.
Amid disagreement between Israel and the US about how to approach the impasse, Netanyahu spoke with Trump by phone Thursday night.
Netanyahu updated Trump on the steps Israel plans to take in response to Hamas allegedly withholding bodies, and Trump expressed his support for the Israeli decision, according to the Israel Hayom daily.
Al Jazeera footage purports to show Hamas looking for bodies
A video released overnight Thursday-Friday by the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel purported to show Hamas operatives searching for the bodies of hostages in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
In the video, operatives can be seen working alongside bulldozers and heavy machinery to clear rubble from the heavily damaged streets.
فيديو | مشاهد توثق بدء مقاتلي كتائب القسام الحفر بحثًا عن جثث الأسرى الإسرائيليين المفقودين في خان يونس جنوبي قطاع غزة.
— فلسطين أون لايـن (@F24online) October 17, 2025
Channel 13 reported Thursday evening that a team of American, Turkish, Egyptian and Qatari service members was already in Gaza, and would soon begin efforts to locate and recover more deceased hostages’ bodies. Qatar has provided “engineering equipment” for the purpose, the outlet said.
According to Channel 12, Israel has given these countries precise coordinates of locations where it believes hostages are buried.
A Turkish defense ministry source said Thursday that “there is already a team of 81 AFAD staff there,” referring to Turkey’s disaster relief agency, indicating that “one team will be in charge of seeking and finding the bodies.”
The war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Fighting stopped last Friday, a day after Israeli and Hamas negotiators signed a US-brokered deal to secure the return of all remaining hostages, in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of 250 life-sentence Palestinian terror convicts, some 1,700 Gazans detained over the course of the war, and the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every one dead hostage returned. The 20 living hostages and the near-2,000 Palestinian inmates were released on Monday.
The deal was presented as the first phase of a 20-point White House peace plan, which would eventually see Hamas disarmed, Gaza demilitarized, and the installation of a transitional, “technocratic” government that could eventually hand power to the Palestinian Authority if the latter completes certain reforms.
