“Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the bodies of two hostages”, which were returned to Israeli security forces in Gaza, Netanyahu’s office said in a post on the X social media platform early on Sunday.
The prime minister’s office announced that the families of Israeli captives were updated on the return of the remains, and the two bodies had been transferred to Israel’s National Centre of Forensic Medicine for identification.
“The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned,” the prime minister’s office added.
The Israeli military reported later that one of the bodies was confirmed to be that of Ronen Tomi Engel. The 54-year-old was killed during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza.
Identification tests are continuing on the second set of remains, the military noted.
With the handover late on Saturday, Hamas has now returned the remains of 12 of the 28 bodies of captives being held in Gaza, a key demand by Israel in the week-old ceasefire deal to end the two-year war.
According to the deal, Hamas was to return all of the Israeli captives – both the living and dead – within 72 hours of its signing. In exchange, Israel was to release 360 bodies of deceased Palestinians and some 2,000 prisoners.
Hamas has stated that the widespread devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s continuing control of certain parts of Gaza have slowed the recovery of the bodies.
For days, Hamas and Israel have traded blame over violations of the US-mediated ceasefire.
On Saturday, Hamas accused the Netanyahu government of “fabricating flimsy pretexts” to not follow through on its commitments to the peace deal, as well as denouncing Israel’s refusal to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt as “a blatant violation” of the agreement.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed 11 members of a single family, including seven children, in an attack east of Gaza City.
The Palestinian Embassy in Egypt announced earlier on Saturday that the Rafah crossing, the main gateway for people in Gaza to leave and enter the enclave, would reopen on Monday.
But Netanyahu announced that the border crossing would remain closed until Hamas hands over the bodies of all the deceased captives.
The delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza also remains slow despite the ceasefire deal.