Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Hamas handed over human remains that did not belong to missing Israeli hostages – an announcement that is likely to rattle the tenuous, US-brokered ceasefire agreement.
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Hamas said it was complying with the ceasefire and doing its best to locate hostage remains, but was hindered by a lack of equipment to identify bodies.
Netanyahu said human remains handed over by the militant group overnight belonged to a hostage whose body had already been recovered by Israeli forces almost two years ago, rather than one of the 13 hostages yet to be recovered.
He would convene his defence chiefs later on Tuesday to decide on “Israel’s next steps” in response, he said.
The Israeli military recovered the bodies of some 51 hostages during the two years of the Israel-Gaza war in the coastal territory. Netanyahu called the return of body parts a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement by Hamas.
Netanyahu said remains handed over on Monday belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli killed during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that precipitated the war. Tzarfati’s body was recovered by Israeli forces in the early weeks of fighting.