Hamas has transferred additional bodies of Israeli hostages to Israel, signaling limited progress amid growing tensions over President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The handover came after Israel announced a reduction in humanitarian aid to Gaza, accusing Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement by delaying the return of hostages’ remains. The Israeli military confirmed receiving four coffins from the Red Cross in northern Gaza late Tuesday, bringing the total to eight bodies returned. Nineteen hostages remain missing, with one still unaccounted for.
The truce, brokered last week, was designed to end two years of relentless conflict that erupted following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages. In exchange, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners. However, the ceasefire remains fragile. Israel has cut the number of aid trucks entering Gaza by half, citing Hamas’s noncompliance, while also postponing the reopening of the Egypt-Gaza border crossing.
Meanwhile, Hamas has reasserted control in Gaza following Israel’s partial troop withdrawal. Hundreds of Hamas security forces have been deployed across urban centers, and the group executed several alleged collaborators in Gaza City. Videos of these executions circulated online, underscoring Hamas’s tightening grip. Israeli airstrikes also resumed, killing several Palestinians despite the ceasefire.
President Trump, who recently addressed the Knesset, warned Hamas to disarm or face “quick and possibly violent” U.S. intervention. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that the war will not officially end until Hamas fully disarms and relinquishes control of Gaza. As famine and destruction grip the region, the tenuous ceasefire faces mounting challenges, raising doubts over Trump’s proclaimed “historic dawn of a new Middle East.”