Israel delays aid to Gaza and blames Hamas for stalling on return of hostage remains

Ceasefire deal required all 28 Israeli deceased to be handed over by Monday

Displaced Palestinians, vehicles piled high with belongings, return to their homes to the north of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire holds. AFP

Gaza’s fragile peace faced setbacks on Tuesday as six people were reported killed in drone attacks and Israel prepared to restrict aid until Hamas surrendered the remains of hostages.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt will not reopen on Wednesday as planned, and humanitarian deliveries will be restricted because of the delay in returning the hostage remains, Israeli officials told Reuters.

The remains of four hostages were handed over to Israel through the Red Cross on Tuesday night, but it was unclear whether this would satisfy Israel.

Latest'All hell will break loose' if Hamas refuses to disarm, Netanyahu threatens

Read More

US President Donald Trump, who hailed the ceasefire as a landmark moment for the Middle East at a summit in Egypt on Monday, told Hamas to release the remaining bodies. "THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED!” Mr Trump wrote on social media."

Hamas on Monday handed over the remains of four out of 28 deceased hostages and has said that recovering the rest might take time because of the difficulty locating their burial sites amid the rubble of Gaza. However, Israeli defence officials decided that the militant group has not made sufficient efforts to do so, the Times of Israel reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected news on the remaining dead hostages "within hours". Israel is "determined to bring everyone back," he said while visiting surviving hostages at a hospital.

Red Cross vehicles have been used to ferry hostages and detainees between Israel and Palestine. AFP

An Israeli note to the UN said only 300 aid lorries per day would be allowed to enter Gaza from Wednesday - aid workers say at least 500 to 600 are needed.

Hamas handed over all 20 living hostages on Monday as Israel halted its military campaign under Mr Trump's 20-point plan to end the Gaza war.

In return, Israel released almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees held in the country's jails. It also released the bodies of 45 Palestinians on Tuesday, which were delivered to Al Nasser Hospital in Gaza by the Red Cross under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, a Hamas-run prisoners' media office said.

Israel still holds hundreds of bodies of Palestinians killed since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, including those of fighters who took part in the Hamas attack on that day and in the fighting afterwards.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that it would take time to locate and return the remains of hostages in Gaza, calling it a “massive challenge” given the difficulties of finding bodies beneath Gaza's rubble.

“That's an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released,” representative Christian Cardon said, adding it could take days or weeks and that there was a possibility they were never found.

The Israeli military killed at least six Palestinians in two incidents in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, as the ceasefire with Hamas entered its fifth day.

Health authorities said at least five people died when Israeli drones opened fire on people returning to their homes in Shujaiya neighbourhood. The Israeli military claimed “suspects” had crossed a line marking Israeli-controlled territory in the Palestinian enclave.

The military has told Palestinians not to approach areas in Gaza it controls during the ceasefire, but, after two years of war and displacement, people have been eager to return home.

The military said the suspects had crossed a boundary for an initial Israeli pullback under a US-brokered ceasefire plan, in breach of the deal.

“Attempts were made to distance the suspects,” it said. “The suspects did not comply and continued approaching the troops, who opened fire to remove the threat.”

In a separate incident, a man was killed by a drone attack in the town of Al Fakhari in Khan Younis, Wafa news agency said, quoting medical sources. Several were injured, meanwhile, in an attack at Halawa camp for displaced people in Jabalia, northern Gaza, they added.

World leaders pledge $80 billion to rebuild Gaza

02:17

There was no Israeli statement about these attacks. Under the truce, Israeli troops have withdrawn to a line within the enclave agreed on by Israel and Hamas, and are supposed to withdraw further under later stages of a peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump.

Many Gazans have been attempting to return to their homes since the ceasefire came into effect on Friday, eager to see if their buildings have withstood Israeli bombardments of the territory.

Ambulance and civil defence crews have also been trying to begin the task of retrieving thousands of bodies from under the rubble.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that the bodies of the four hostages returned by Hamas a day earlier have been identified, including that of a Nepalese student.

In a statement, the military named two of the victims as Guy Iluz, an Israeli, and Bipin Joshi, an agriculture student from Nepal.

The names of the other two hostages have not yet been released at the request of their families, the statement added.

Iluz, who was 26 at the time of the attack, had been attending the Nova music festival when Hamas-led militants launched their assault on October 7, 2023.

A truck carrying the bodies of Palestinians released by Israel arrives at Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Reuters

But much in the subsequent stages of Mr Trump’s plan remains to be negotiated.

Among possible sticking points are Israel's failure to pledge a full withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas's refusal to disarm.

Mr Trump has repeatedly signalled he is confident the ceasefire will hold, saying on Monday during a trip to the Middle East that talks on the next steps of the plan had already “started, as far as we're concerned”.

The US President announced in late September the 20-point plan for Gaza, which has helped bring about the ceasefire. It has brought a halt to two years of fighting in which nearly 67,800 people have lost their lives.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Monday urged Mr Trump and other mediators of the deal to “continue monitoring Israel's conduct and to ensure it does not resume its aggression against our people”.