Hamas's Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades has announced that it will release two deceased hostages' remains on Wednesday evening, according to various reports, which contain conflicting information ranging from two to five bodies.
Contrary to recent reports, negotiations for the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Israel-Hamas peace plan have not begun and will not begin until every hostage has been returned, several senior Israeli officials confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Professional teams in Egypt are currently discussing methods for locating the remaining 21 slain hostages, the officials stated.
“Hamas... is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return all of our hostages as part of the implementation of this agreement,” a spokeswoman for the government said in a news conference.
“We will not compromise on this, and we will spare no effort until our fallen hostages return, every last one of them.”
Trump stated, “The job IS NOT DONE,” after Hamas violated the 72-hour deadline set for the return of all hostages, living and dead, from captivity in Gaza in a social media post.
“Phase Two begins right NOW!!!” he wrote, referring to the next phase in implementing his Gaza peace plan.
What is Phase Two?
An Israeli diplomat told the Post on Thursday that while phase one included the return of all hostages, phase two generally aims to demilitarize Gaza and preliminarily establish a temporary Palestinian government.
The deadline passed on Monday, when the remains of 24 deceased hostages were still in Hamas custody. In response to Hamas violating the deadline, Israel restricted the flow of aid being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
Since Monday, Hamas has released the bodies of seven deceased hostages and one body that it claimed was a hostage but was revealed by the IDF to be an unknown Gazan.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.