Gaza ceasefire live: Israelis working to identify second group of hostage remains amid reports vital aid crossing to reopen | Gaza

Israel The bodies of more dead hostages handed over on Wednesday have been identified. Hamas a day earlier to ease pressure on a fragile truce in its war with Israel. The handover followed a warning from the Israeli military that it would cut aid deliveries. Gaza Because the militant group did not return the remains as agreed.

Three of the four bodies handed over on Tuesday night were identified as Israeli hostages, but the identity of the fourth is still in doubt, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu He demanded that Hamas fulfill the conditions specified in the ceasefire agreement. WE minister Donald Trump – about the return of the hostages’ bodies. Netanyahu said:

We will not compromise on this issue and will not stop our efforts until we return the last dead hostage, the last one.

The US proposed ceasefire plan called for the surrender of all hostages (living and dead) within a period ending Monday. However, according to the agreement, if this did not happen, Hamas would share information about the dead hostages and try to deliver them all as soon as possible.

Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 hostages from Gaza on Monday. Palestinians We were pleased that Israel released 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the first phase of the ceasefire.

However, the families and supporters of the hostages expressed their sadness that all 28 dead hostages were not returned. Hamas and Red Cross They said it was difficult to recover the remains of dead hostages due to the massive destruction of Gaza, and Hamas told the deal’s negotiators that some were in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

Donald Trump he said this Hamas They will be forced to disarm after questions swirled around the group’s status following the signing of a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the war. Gaza.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump said:

If they do not disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.

“But they will be disarmed, do you understand me?” He said this should happen “within a reasonable time.”

While the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza came into effect this week, one of the biggest question marks still remains. white houseThere are plans to force Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza if the second phase of the 20-point agreement comes into force.

The US president’s own words suggested the group could continue to play a limited role in Gaza, as information emerged about a direct meeting between White House envoys and Hamas negotiators at the highest-level summit ever held between the two sides.

He admitted earlier this week that the group would have a “limited role” in maintaining order in the short term, raising questions about how the White House might seek to broker a peace deal that seeks to rein in Hamas. Israel from restarting the conflict.

Video released by Hamas on Tuesday shows the group executing eight people, blindfolded, bound and kneeling, whom members called “collaborators and outlaws”. Agence France-Presse, which reported on the video, said Hamas targeted “Palestinian criminal gangs and clans” in Gaza after the ceasefire agreement with Israel was signed.

On board Air Force OneTrump told reporters that Hamas would continue to have a limited role in implementing security operations before the second phase of the peace deal begins, even though the 20-point agreement made clear that Hamas would disarm and abandon its goal of controlling the Gaza Strip.

Trump said:

[Hamas] They’re standing because they want to stop the problems, and they’ve been open about it, so we gave them the OK for a while.

He said rebuilding Gaza would be dangerous and difficult. WE It was necessary to work with forces on the ground to make this possible.

Israel It was reported that the company decided to continue its opening. prosperity transition between Gaza And Sweetcorn According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, humanitarian aid was allowed to be transferred to Gaza after the bodies of four hostages were handed over.

On Tuesday, Israel announced that the aid flow to Gaza would be cut in half and that the critical Rafah border gate with Egypt would not be opened as planned. Hamas for delays in returning the hostages’ bodies.

Only after the militant group handed over the remains of four hostages to the police International Committee of the Red Cross On Tuesday night, the number of bodies transferred since then rose to eight. WEAccording to Kan and other media in Israel, a brokered ceasefire went into effect and Israel changed its stance. Hamas said it faces obstacles because not all burial sites can be identified.

Kan said the following on his website, without citing the source:

600 trucks of humanitarian aid will be sent [Wednesday] Aid is provided to the Gaza Strip by the UN, approved international organizations, the private sector and donor countries.

Here’s the situation on Wednesday morning Middle East:

• Hamas handed over four more Israeli hostages on Tuesday evening after Israel threatened to reduce aid to Gaza due to delays in the release of remains. The Israeli army said in a statement: “According to the information provided by the Red Cross, the four coffins of the deceased hostages were delivered to them and they are on their way to the Israeli Armed Forces. [military] and JESUS [security agency] forces in the Gaza Strip.”

• The names of the four previously returned bodies have been revealed Starring Yossi Sharabi, Daniel Peretz, Guy Iluz and Bipin Joshi.

• Donald Trump warns Hamas must be disarmed or “we will disarm them”, After previously announcing that the second phase of the ceasefire agreement for Gaza “has now begun”. “They said they would disarm, and if they don’t, we will disarm them,” the US president told reporters. When asked how he would do this, Trump said, “I won’t explain it to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I don’t play games.” Trump added that this could happen “quickly and perhaps violently.”

• Reemerging Hamas fighters show they have regained control in Gaza By deploying hundreds of security forces to the streets and executing many people they accused of collaborating with Israel.

• The nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat returned to the West Bank after four years of exile and outlined a road map to secure peace in Gaza as Hamas transformed into a political party and declared his readiness to help the administration. Nasser al-Qudwa, a leading critic of the current Palestinian leadership, also called for “a serious confrontation with corruption in this country.”

• Doctors and released prisoners in the occupied West Bank told The Associated Press that some of the nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees released on Monday suffer from a range of health problems that developed during years of Israeli detention. The Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah received 14 people released on Monday as part of the exchange, and all but two were discharged. Nasser hospital in Gaza also said that the Red Cross transferred the bodies of 45 Palestinians to the morgue. The bodies were the first of 450 expected to arrive.

• The European Union should maximize its influence in Gaza’s recovery and join a US-proposed “peace council” aimed at temporarily overseeing the administration of the territory, the EU’s diplomatic arm said in a document seen by Reuters. Israel and Hamas held a hostage-prisoner exchange on Monday and a ceasefire remains in effect as part of the first phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point initiative on Gaza after two years of war.

• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement that ends two years of armed conflict in Gaza offers the opportunity for a lasting economic recovery in the region, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) deputy chief economist said on Tuesday. Petya Koeva-Brooks said that the IMF is ready to cooperate with the international community in rescuing Gaza and the economies of the region, including Egypt and Jordan, deeply affected by the conflict.