Hamas says it has handed over all hostage remains it can reach

AFP

15 Oct, 2025 09:23 PM2 mins to read

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Thirteen Israeli hostages released by the Al-Qassam Brigades are handed over to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) teams in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. Photo / Getty Images

Hamas says it has handed back the remains of all the deceased hostages that it can reach, as the Israeli military said the Red Cross had received two more bodies in Gaza.

Since Monday, under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has handed back 20
surviving hostages to Israel in exchange for nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails.

Before the two bodies were handed over late on Wednesday, Hamas had already returned the remains of seven of 28 known deceased hostages – with an eighth body which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

But late on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist movement’s armed wing said it had transferred all the bodies it could find and would need specialist recovery equipment to retrieve the rest from Gaza’s ruins.

“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,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement on social media.