Hostage families demand halt to deal's implementation

Israel receives 4 hostages’ bodies from Red Cross; demands Hamas hand over the other 24

Hamas silent on fate of 24 other slain hostages; Katz: Any deliberate violation of deal to be ‘met accordingly’; IDF spokesperson says efforts underway to secure more bodies

Israel on Monday received caskets holding what Hamas said were the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza, as it accused Hamas of failing to stand by the commitments it agreed to under the ceasefire by not releasing all the bodies it was holding.

It remained silent on the fate of the 24 other dead hostages it was holding.

Hamas said Monday the bodies of Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi and Daniel Perez would be handed over. The IDF said troops in the Gaza Strip received four caskets, with the apparent bodies of slain hostages, from the Red Cross on Monday evening.

Israeli police officers were escorting the caskets containing the apparent remains of the four hostages to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, where they will undergo identification.

Hamas has in the past sent back unrelated bodies instead of hostages.

Joshi had not previously been confirmed by Israel to be dead, but authorities had expressed “grave concerns” for his well-being.

According to Channel 12, the family of Tamir Nimrodi, a second hostage about whom Israel had expressed grave concern, was told on Monday that he was now confirmed as dead. But this was not confirmed, and the Hostages Families Forum said it had received no word of a change in his status. Nimrodi had been widely assumed to be dead, especially in the past few days, when Israeli officials had indicated that they were expecting the return of 20 living and 28 dead hostages.

Earlier on Monday, the terror group returned the last 20 living hostages it was holding, following the partial withdrawal by the Israeli military in the Strip, and ahead of planned talks on the enclave’s future.

The fate of Joshi, a Nepali agricultural student, had not been confirmed by Israel, but it expressed “grave concern” about him. Illouz was taken from the Nova festival and succumbed to his wounds in a Gaza hospital, apparently due to a lack of medical treatment. His death was confirmed in December 2023.

Perez, 22, a platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Yad Binyamin, was killed battling Hamas on October 7, 2023. Sharabi, 53, the brother of freed hostage Eli Sharabi, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped from his home on October 7 and slain in captivity.

Officials have said the identification process may take up to two days.

Before being taken out of Gaza, the IDF said it was set to hold a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, to honor the dead. The caskets were to be draped in Israeli flags, with troops saluting and reciting psalms.

The terror group had told mediators days ago that it did not know where some of the bodies of the 28 slain hostages were located. Israel was aware of this when it signed the agreement, which demanded Hamas release all the captives, living and dead, within 72 hours of the IDF’s initial withdrawal from Gaza.

The IDF completed its withdrawal by noon on Friday, commencing the 72-hour period. Israel released some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages.

An Israeli official had told CNN this week that seven to nine bodies of the 28 might not be retrieved, while another put the figure at between 10 and 15. Several families were told by Israeli authorities on Sunday night that the bodies of their loved ones might not returned on Monday or in the coming days. But there had been no suggestion that almost all of the bodies would not be returned in the course of the day.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Israeli mediators were intensively working to try to increase the number of bodies released on Monday. Israel was not buying the claim that Hamas had returned the bodies it had and was still looking for others, and believes the terror group is stalling, Channel 12 reported.

Kan said that Hamas had conveyed the following message to the mediators: “We have limitations beyond our control and constraints in the field that caused us to hand over a lower number than expected of dead hostages.”

The terror group does not claim that it doesn’t know where all 24 of them are, just that it needs more time to retrieve them. Some may also be located in areas currently held by the IDF, Kan said.

In response to the limited release of bodies, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that if Hamas were intentionally delaying the return of the dead hostages, it would be a violation of the agreement.

“The urgent mission we are all committed to now is to ensure the return of all the fallen hostages home,” he wrote on X.

“Hamas’s announcement of the expected return of four bodies today constitutes a failure to meet its commitments,” Katz said, adding that “any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a blatant violation of the agreement and will be met accordingly.”

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel is demanding that Hamas uphold its end of the deal.

“We have been informed that later today, approximately four fallen hostages will be returned. Even at this hour, efforts are being made at all levels to exert pressure for the continuation of the process to return the bodies of the fallen,” Defrin said in a video statement.

“We demand that Hamas uphold its part of the agreement. We do not forget them (the hostages) for a moment and will not rest until all return to their families and to burial in Israel,” he said.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum demanded a “severe response,” calling for an “immediate halt to the implementation of the agreement until the full and complete release of all the fallen.”

“The violation of the agreement by Hamas must be met with a very severe response from the government and the mediators,” the forum said.

“An agreement must be respected by both sides, if Hamas does not fulfill its part, Israel should not fulfill its part either,” the forum said.

“We demand all 28 hostages. We will not give up on anyone, down to the last hostage,” the forum stated.

Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities devastated by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, also urged an “immediate” government response to the “disgrace.”

“Hamas’s failure to abide by the agreement cannot be ignored. A strong response is required from the government and the mediators. We demand the return of all the fallen hostages and express our horror, deep pain, and utter fear that the dead will disappear,” the community said in a statement.