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Israel received the remains of two more hostages on Wednesday, hours after the Israeli army said one of the bodies previously handed over by Hamas it was not that of a hostage. Confusion was added to tensions over the fragile truce that halted the two-year war Gaza.
The coffins carrying the remains were moved by the Red Cross from Hamas. Upon returning to Israel, they were sent to a forensic laboratory in Tel Aviv. The military in a statement warned that the identities of the hostages have not yet been verified.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said it had received 45 more Palestinian bodies from Israel, a further step in the implementation of the cease fire agreement This brought the total number of bodies returned to Gaza for burial to 90. The forensic team that examined the remains said they showed signs of abuse.
As part of the deal, Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages on Tuesday, following four on Monday that were returned hours after the last 20 hostages alive were freed from Gaza. In total, Israel was awaiting the return of the bodies of 28 hostages.
The Israeli military said forensic evidence showed that “the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.” There was no immediate word on whose body it was.
In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees this Monday.
Unidentified bodies returned to Gaza show signs of abuse
Israel is expected to hand over more bodies, although officials have not said how many are in its custody or how many will be returned. It is unclear whether the remains belong to Palestinians who died in Israeli custody or were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops. Throughout the war, the Israeli army exhumed the bodies as part of its search for hostage remains.
As forensic teams examined the first returned remains, the Department of Health released images of 32 unidentified bodies on Wednesday to help families recognize missing relatives.
Many appeared decomposed or burned. Some were missing limbs or teeth, while others were covered in sand and dust. Health officials said Israeli restrictions on allowing DNA testing equipment into Gaza often forced morgues to rely on physical characteristics and clothing for identification.
The forensic team that received the bodies said some arrived still chained or with signs of physical abuse.
Sameh Hamad, a member of a commission tasked with receiving the bodies at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said some arrived with their hands and legs handcuffed.
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“There are signs of torture and executions,” he told The Associated Press.
The bodies, he said, belonged to men aged 25 to 70. Most had bands around their necks, including one that had a rope around its neck.
Most of the bodies were in civilian clothes, but some were wearing uniforms, suggesting they were militants.
Hamad said the Red Cross had given names to only three of the dead, leaving many families uncertain about the fate of their loved ones. The fighting has killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas government in Gaza. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Rasmiya Qudeih, 52, waited outside Nasser Hospital, hoping her son was among the 45 bodies flown in from Israel on Wednesday.
He disappeared on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war. He was told he was killed by an Israeli strike.
“God willing, he will be with the bodies,” he said.
Netanyahu says Israel will not compromise
The ceasefire plan introduced by US President Donald Trump called for all hostages, dead and alive, to be handed over by a deadline that expired on Monday. But according to the agreement, if that did not happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that Hamas fulfill the requirements set out in the cease-fire agreement on the return of the bodies of the hostages.
Trump, in an interview with CNN, warned that Israel could resume the war if it feels that Hamas is not upholding its end of the deal.
“Israel will be back in those streets as soon as I say the word,” Trump said.
The armed wing of Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that the group complied with the terms of the ceasefire and handed over the remains of the hostages it had access to.
Hamas has assured the US through intermediaries that it is working to return dead hostages, according to two senior US advisers. The advisers, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said they did not believe Hamas violated the agreement.
The widespread destruction in the territory complicated the recovery of the dead, the officials added. One of the advisors said that debris and unexploded weapons increase the difficulty.
Hamas told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.
This is not the first time Hamas has returned the wrong body to Israel. During an earlier ceasefire, the group said it handed over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, who were among those captured in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped.
Tests conducted in February 2025 showed that one of the returned bodies was identified as a Palestinian woman. Bibas’ body was returned a day later.
The World Food Program said its trucks began arriving in Gaza after the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza was paused for two days due to Monday’s exchange and a Jewish holiday Tuesday.
The timing of the increased deliveries, which are part of the ceasefire agreement, were thrown into doubt after Israel said on Tuesday it would reduce the number of trucks allowed into Gaza, saying Hamas was too slow to return the bodies of hostages.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel and medical supplies were headed for Gaza on Wednesday. The Israeli defense agency that oversees humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sarah El Deeb in Cairo, and Michelle Price and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
