{"id":83682,"date":"2025-10-18T23:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T23:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/83682\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T23:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T23:09:09","slug":"israel-says-hamas-hands-over-2-coffins-of-deceased-hostages-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/83682\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel says Hamas hands over ‘2 coffins of deceased hostages’ from Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Israel said Hamas<\/a> handed over \u201ctwo coffins of deceased hostages<\/a> \u201d from Gaza<\/a> late Saturday, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu increased pressure on the militant group to share the rest more quickly under their ceasefire.<\/p>\n

No names were immediately released. The bodies were in Israel and were being taken to the country\u2019s National Institute of Forensic Medicine.<\/p>\n

Israel announced earlier Saturday that Gaza\u2019s sole crossing with the outside world, Rafah<\/a>, would stay closed \u201cuntil further notice,\u201d tying it to Hamas\u2019 release of remains. On Thursday it had said the crossing likely would reopen Sunday.<\/p>\n

Hamas has now handed over the remains of 12 of the 28 dead hostages in Gaza, a key step in the week-old ceasefire process meant to end two years of war. The militant group says devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover.<\/p>\n

The statement by Netanyahu<\/a> \u2019s office on the Rafah crossing came shortly after the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said it would reopen Monday for people returning to Gaza. Hamas called Netanyahu\u2019s decision a violation of the ceasefire deal.<\/p>\n

The Rafah crossing has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Anxiety on both sides over remains <\/p>\n

Israel has been returning the bodies of Palestinians with no names, only numbers. Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry posts photos of them online, hoping families will come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201dJust like they took their captives, we want our captives. Bring me my son, bring all our kids back,\u201d said a tearful Iman Sakani, whose son went missing during the war. She was among dozens of anxious families waiting at Nasser hospital.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Israel identifies the remains of one more hostage while 9 Palestinians are killed in Gaza City\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports Israel identifies the remains of another hostage as the Palestinian death toll tops 68,000.<\/p>\n

One woman knelt, crying over a body after identifying it.<\/p>\n

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel on Saturday returned 15 bodies of Palestinians to Gaza, bringing the total it has returned to 135.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gaza\u2019s ruins were being scoured for the dead. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry. Thousands of people are still missing, according to the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, doesn\u2019t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. But the ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable<\/a> by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.<\/p>\n

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

A push for hostages\u2019 remains<\/p>\n

Israel also said the remains of a 10th hostage<\/a> that Hamas handed over Friday were identified as Eliyahu Margalit. The 76-year-old was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7 attack. His remains were found after bulldozers plowed areas in the southern city of Khan Younis.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> has warned that he would greenlight a resumption of the war by Israel if Hamas doesn\u2019t return the remains of all dead hostages.<\/p>\n

Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire deal, but that the retrieval of remains is also hampered by the presence of unexploded ordnance in the territory\u2019s vast ruins.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department on Sunday said it had credible reports of an imminent planned attack by Hamas<\/a> against residents of Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201dThe guarantors demand Hamas uphold its obligations under the ceasefire terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire\u201d forged by Trump to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, it added. There were no additional details.<\/p>\n

The Israeli organization supporting families of those abducted said it will continue holding weekly rallies in Tel Aviv until all are returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to go back to fighting, God forbid, but this whole ordeal must end, and all the hostages must be returned,\u201d said Ifat Calderon, aunt of freed hostage Ofer Calderon.<\/p>\n

Aid remains limited<\/p>\n

Hamas has urged mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza as closures of crossings and Israeli restrictions on aid groups continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cVast parts of the city are just a wasteland,\u201d U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Saturday while visiting Gaza City, where international food security experts declared famine earlier this year.<\/p>\n

U.N. data on Friday showed 339 trucks have been offloaded for distribution in Gaza since the ceasefire began. Under the agreement, about 600 aid trucks per day should be allowed to enter.<\/p>\n

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in Gaza, reported 950 trucks \u2014 including commercial trucks and bilateral deliveries \u2014 crossing on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, the U.N. said.<\/p>\n

Israel has said it let in enough food and accused Hamas of stealing much of it, which the U.N. and other aid agencies deny.<\/p>\n

Hamas accuses Israel of violations<\/p>\n

Hamas again accused Israel of continuing attacks and violating the ceasefire, asserting that 38 Palestinians had been killed since it began. There was no immediate response from Israel, which still maintains control of about half of Gaza.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Gaza\u2019s Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and children, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. The Civil Defense said the car crossed into an Israeli-controlled area in eastern Gaza.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s army said it saw a \u201csuspicious vehicle\u201d crossing the so-called yellow line and approaching troops. It said it fired warning shots, but the vehicle continued to approach in a manner that posed an \u201cimminent threat.\u201d The army said it acted in accordance with the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem contributed. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s war coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/israel-hamas-war<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Israel said Hamas handed over \u201ctwo coffins of deceased hostages \u201d from Gaza late Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120,49,54,57828,50,69,122,51,1983,85,57827,119,46,1984,61,47,2034,43,57829,7319,121,126],"class_list":["post-83682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-eliyahu-margalit","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-general-news","tag-hamas","tag-hostage-situations","tag-il","tag-iman-sakani","tag-international-agreements","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-middle-east","tag-mideast-wars","tag-news","tag-nir-oz","tag-religion","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}