The peace deal between Israel and Hamas may depend on the return of all the remains of Israeli hostages, but is that possible?

Israel appeared on Wednesday to be restricting the flow of humanitarian aid to Loop in response to what it says is Hamas’ delay in handing over the remains of 21 other hostages believed to still be in Palestinian territory. Some people fear that is not possible.

An Israeli security official told News themezone on Wednesday that, “contrary to reports, the Rafah crossing did not open today,” referring to the key portal to reach Gaza from Egypt, where tons of aid has been stored ready for delivery for weeks.

The official said preparations were being made to open the crossing “only for the entry and exit of Gazans,” but not for relief materials. However, the official said an unspecified amount of aid was still being transported to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, “and other crossings after Israeli security inspection.”

The calls have increased since the US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Friday for Israel. allow “full aid” into Gazaas specified in the terms of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

Israeli officials had said that 600 aid trucks a day would be allowed into the territory once the US-brokered peace plan took effect. The Israeli government has not given details on the level of aid traffic it has allowed since then, but there are reports that only half as many trucks have entered Gaza each day.

Both the Israeli Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the group representing the hostages’ families, and Israel’s Defense Minister have said the entire peace deal should be shelved until Hamas returns all of the hostages’ remains.

The Israel Defense Forces, in multiple statements on the hostages’ return since Friday, have said only that “Hamas must make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages.”

Hamas returned four more sets of remains on Tuesday night, but the Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of them was not one of the missing hostages.

That would mean that the remains of 21 hostages still lie buried somewhere among the ruins of Gaza, along with more than 11,000 Gazans who remain missing, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Part of the problem is that many of those who oversaw the burial of the deceased hostages are now also dead.

“Many of the Hamas commanders responsible for burying these Israeli hostages are no longer alive,” Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin told News themezone on Wednesday. “They were killed by the Israelis.”

He said there were still “thousands of missing Gazans, believed to also be buried under the rubble of buildings bombed by Israel.”

During Negotiations to seal the peace agreement in the Middle EastHamas representatives said they did not know the location of all the remains of the deceased hostages, according to Israeli media.

In Gaza, rescuers who spent the last two years running to save lives are now searching for the dead. It is a mammoth task as the territory’s Hamas-led government estimates that at least 90% of Gaza buildings have been damaged or destroyed – and most search teams have only rudimentary tools.

“They’re just digging with their hands,” a man searching for his missing loved ones told the News themezone crew in Gaza. “We are exhausted by this and we no longer have energy.”

He is just one of thousands of Gazans trying to find their missing relatives.

“It is very likely that there are Israeli bodies under the rubble as well,” Baskin told News themezone. “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.”

“When I brought this to your attention [U.S. senior envoy] Mr. Witkoff, last night I told you this was going to be a problem. The Israelis are already shouting that Hamas is violating the agreement,” Baskin said. “Witkoff told me, ‘We won’t let that happen.’ I know the Egyptians have taken this very seriously. I understand that there are some Egyptians who entered Gaza today to work with Hamas to try to find the bodies. “This has to be resolved and it has to be resolved quickly.”

Trump says ‘we will disarm’ Hamas, as group reasserts power

The US plan also calls for an interim governing body, headed by President Trump, to administer Gaza for an indefinite period before handing control to the Palestinians. But this interim body has not yet been created, and Hamas has already begun to fill the resulting power vacuum.

News themezone has seen armed members of the group return to the streets of Gaza.

Videos have emerged, which News themezone has not been able to independently verify, apparently showing Hamas members executing blindfolded Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel, in front of a crowd of people. There have also been reports that Hamas has attacked rival gangs and armed groups.

“Hamas is killing them because they can,” Baskin told News themezone. “Israel has strengthened, with weapons and money, gangs of Palestinians who were involved in largely illegal activities in the past… and empowered them as an alternative to Hamas.”

President Trump reacted to the videos on Tuesday, recently saying that Hamas “took out a couple of gangs, which were very bad gangs, very, very bad… and that didn’t bother me much, to be honest.”

“But we’ve told them we want to disarm and they will,” Trump said. “And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US military’s Central Command, urged Hamas on Wednesday to “immediately cease violence and shooting against innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, both in the parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas and those secured by the IDF.” [Israeli military] behind the Yellow Line.”

“This is a historic opportunity for peace. Hamas should seize it by fully withdrawing, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay,” Cooper said in a statement shared on social media. “We have conveyed our concerns to mediators who agreed to work with us to enforce peace and protect innocent civilians in Gaza. We remain very optimistic about the future of peace in the region.”

In:

• War
• Hostage situation
• Hamas
• Israel
• Cease-fire
• donald trump
• Loop
• Middle East
• Benjamin Netanyahu