Hamas on Tuesday handed over the remains of four Israeli detainees to the International Committee of the Red Cross in northern Gaza, in what resistance officials described as a step toward implementing the latest ceasefire agreement. The coffins were later transferred into Israel for forensic examination.
With this handover, Hamas has now returned the bodies of eight Israeli captives, while an estimated 19 others were killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past two years remain in its custody. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that Tel Aviv had agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing with Egypt and allow 600 aid trucks into Gaza.
Israeli officials said Tel Aviv had threatened delaying the crossing’s reopening, accusing Hamas of failing to meet ceasefire terms on repatriating bodies, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
In a Facebook statement, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the group was “implementing what was agreed upon within the framework of ending the war on Gaza,” confirming that the transfers were part of recent understandings.
The exchange came two days after Hamas released all 20 living Israeli detainees, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire signed Monday at the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit by the US, Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar. However, Israel has yet to reopen the Rafah crossing for evacuating Gaza’s wounded.
As these steps unfolded, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalated threats against Hamas. On Tuesday, Trump warned that if Hamas fails to disarm under the agreement’s second phase, “we will disarm them—quickly and perhaps violently.”
Netanyahu echoed the threat in an interview with CBS News, stating that Hamas’s noncompliance would lead to all hell to break loose, and repeating that disarmament and an end to arms smuggling preconditions for lasting peace.
Trump’s 20-point Middle East plan forms the backbone of the current deal. It calls for the full disarmament of Gaza, safe corridors for Hamas leaders willing to leave, and amnesty for those who pledge peaceful coexistence. It also outlines humanitarian aid under UN oversight and a reconstruction initiative led by international and regional experts.
During a transitional period, according to the plan, Gaza would be governed by a technocratic Palestinian-international council supervised by a Body of Peace, while an interim multinational force would maintain order. Trump claimed that Israel “will neither occupy nor annex Gaza,” promising a gradual transfer of control to international supervision.
On Oct. 3, Hamas had given their conditional approval to Trump’s proposed ceasefire plan, confirming they agree to release all captives through a prisoner exchange and handing governance of the Strip to a technocratic Palestinian council formed by national consensus.
Their statement of approval notably excluded a direct response to the group's disarmament. Later, on Oct. 10, the ceasefire went into effect following indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel through mediators. The question of laying down arms remained unclear. Hamas officials continue to reject this stipulation.
The plan’s reference to the broader Palestinian cause remains vague, mentioning only the potential for self-determination and a future Palestinian state “once the Palestinian Authority is reformed,” which the document frames as “a legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
