Israel calls out Hamas

Israel’s government said Tuesday that a series of partial hostages Remains returned by Hamas the day before. It belonged to a deceased captive recovered by the military about two years ago.

“After completing the identification process this morning, it was discovered that last night the remains belonging to fallen hostage Ofir Tzarfati, who had been returned from the Gaza Strip in a military operation about two years ago, were returned,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

“This constitutes a clear violation of the [Gaza peace] agreement” by Hamas, Netanyahu’s office said, adding that the prime minister would meet with the heads of Israel’s defense establishment, “during which Israel’s measures in response to the violations will be discussed.”

An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza urged authorities to “act decisively” against Hamas, accusing the US-Israel designated terrorist group of violating the peace deal brokered by President Trump by returning only the partial remains of the previously recovered hostage, Ofir Tzarfati, rather than one of the 13 whose bodies remain in Gaza.

“In light of Hamas’s serious breach of the agreement last night… the Israeli government cannot and should not ignore this, and must act decisively against these violations,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many of the hostage families, said in a statement.

The forum has urged Israel’s leaders to declare that Hamas has violated the peace agreement since it began handing over the remains of 28 deceased hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has said it needs more time, assistance and heavy equipment to locate and recover the remaining 13 bodies still in Palestinian territory, and that work has intensified in recent days: Egypt sent a team to help and the Red Cross confirmed to News themezone on Monday that its staff were accompanying recovery teams on the ground.

President Trump warned Saturday that he was “watching very closely” to ensure that Hamas returned more bodies within 48 hours.

“Some of the bodies are difficult to reach, but others may return now and, for some reason, not,” he wrote on his Social Truth network.

Israeli hostage negotiator and peace activist Gershon Baskin told News themezone earlier this month that it was “very likely that there were Israeli bodies under the rubble” in Gaza, where the Hamas-led government estimates that at least 90% of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

“Some of the deceased hostages may never be found, and that is part of the reality, but we have to make sure that Hamas is doing everything it can to achieve this,” Baskin said.

During Negotiations on the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.Hamas representatives said they did not know the location of all the remains of the deceased hostages, according to Israeli media.