Hamas reaffirms commitment to ceasefire amid delays returning hostages’ bodies

Hamas brought out bulldozers to dig for the remains of dead hostages on Friday as it sought to shore up its tenuous ceasefire with Israel, saying it was committed to the terms of the deal, including the handover of bodies.

The militant group’s statement followed a warning from US President Donald Trump that he would green-light Israel to resume the war if Hamas did not live up to its end of the deal and return all hostages’ bodies, totalling 28.

So far in the past days, it has handed over the remains of nine, along with a 10th body that Israel said was not that of a hostage.

In its statement, Hamas said some hostages’ remains were in tunnels or buildings that were later destroyed by Israel, and heavy machinery was required to dig through rubble to retrieve them.

It blamed Israel for the delay, saying it had not allowed any new bulldozers into the Gaza Strip.

Most heavy equipment in Gaza was destroyed during the war, leaving only a limited amount as Palestinians try to clear massive amounts of rubble across the territory.

On Friday, two bulldozers ploughed up pits in the earth as Hamas searched for hostages’ remains in Hamad City, a complex of apartment towers in the city of Khan Younis.

Israeli forces repeatedly bombarded the towers during the war, toppling some, and troops conducted a week-long raid there in March 2024, fighting militants.

In a follow-up statement on Friday, Hamas urged mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and start the reconstruction process, especially for homes, hospitals and schools.

It also called for work to “start immediately” on setting up a committee of independents who will run the Gaza Strip and for Israeli troops to continue pulling back from agreed-upon areas.

The ceasefire plan introduced by Mr Trump had called for all hostages — living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired on Monday.

But under the deal, 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 has said that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that Hamas fulfil the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages’ bodies.

Hamas has sought to assure the US through intermediaries that it is working to return dead hostages. American officials say retrieval of the bodies is hampered by the scope of the devastation, coupled with the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance.

The militant group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

At a news conference with his German counterpart in Ankara, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan expressed concerns that Israel might use Hamas’s “lack of equipment” to recover bodies as a pretext to resume hostilities.

Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday. In exchange, Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

In Israel, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum — which groups many families of hostages — said they would continue holding weekly rallies until all remains were returned.

Israel has also returned to Gaza the bodies of 90 Palestinians for burial. Israel is expected to turn over more bodies, although officials have not said how many are in its custody or how many will be returned.

A Palestinian forensics team examining the remains said some of the bodies showed signs of mistreatment.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory.

The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

In the October 7 2023 attack on Israel, militants killed around 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage.