Israel receives coffins Hamas claims contain bodies of two Gazan hostages

Israel has received through the Red Cross in Gaza two coffins that the Palestinian militant group Hamas says contain the bodies of deceased hostages, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.

Israeli forces will now transfer the bodies to the National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.

The armed wing of Hamas announced earlier that it had found the bodies of Israeli hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch.

On Tuesday, the Israeli government accused Hamas of violating a Gaza ceasefire agreement after the group handed over a coffin containing human remains that did not belong to one of the 13 dead Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza.

Forensic tests showed they belonged to Ofir Tsarfati, a hostage whose body was found by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2023.

The Israeli military also released drone footage showing Hamas members removing a bag of debris from a building in Gaza City, reburying it and then staging the discovery in front of Red Cross staff.

The Red Cross said its staff were unaware the body bag had been moved before they arrived and that the phased removal was “unacceptable”.

Hamas rejected what it called “baseless accusations” and accused Israel of “seeking to fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps.”

Hours later, the Israeli government accused Hamas of another ceasefire violation, saying the group’s fighters killed an Israeli soldier in an attack in an area of ​​southern Gaza.

Hamas claimed it was not involved in the incident in the Rafah area, but Israel’s prime minister ordered a wave of airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday evening in response. Israel’s military said it attacked “dozens of terrorist targets and terrorists”.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 104 Palestinians had been killed, including 46 children and 20 women, making it the deadliest day since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October.

US President Donald Trump said “nothing” would threaten the ceasefire deal his administration brokered with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, but added that Israel must “hit back” when its troops were targeted.

Under the deal, Hamas agreed to return 20 live and 28 dead hostages it was holding within 72 hours.

All living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gazan detainees.

Israel also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas so far, along with those of two foreign hostages, one Thai and the other Nepali.

Eleven of the 13 dead hostages still in Gaza are Israeli, one is Tanzanian and one is Thai.

All but one of the dead hostages, still in Gaza, were among 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 others were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 68,600 people, including more than 200 since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health ministry.