DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) \u2014 The Red Cross on Friday received the remains of another hostage to be returned to Israel from Gaza, the Israeli military said, after Hamas worked to shore up a tenuous ceasefire by using bulldozers to help search for bodies the group says remain trapped under rubble.<\/p>\n
The army said the coffin of a deceased hostage was on the way to Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
The handover came after Hamas\u2019 military wing said it would hand over the body of a hostage that was pulled out earlier in the day to the International Committee of the Red Cross.<\/p>\n
The statement from the Qassam Brigades said the remains were that of an \u201coccupation prisoner,\u201d suggesting they belonged to an Israeli rather than one of the hostages of several other nationalities also taken by Hamas. <\/p>\n
The Israeli military and Shin Bet security service, in a joint statement, said official identification of the remains would first be provided to the families, before adding: \u201cHamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamas has said it was committed to the terms of the ceasefire deal, including the handover of bodies. This week, Hamas, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, has handed over to Israel the remains of nine hostages \u2014 along with a 10th body that Israel said wasn\u2019t that of a hostage.<\/p>\n
The effort to find bodies followed a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> that he would green-light Israel to resume the war if Hamas doesn\u2019t live up to its end of the deal and return all hostages\u2019 bodies, totaling 28.<\/p>\n In a statement earlier Friday, Hamas said some hostages\u2019 remains were in tunnels or buildings that were later destroyed by Israel, and that heavy machinery is required to dig through rubble to retrieve them. It blamed Israel for the delay, saying it had not allowed any new bulldozers into the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n Most heavy equipment in Gaza was destroyed during the war, leaving only a limited amount as Palestinians try to clear massive amounts of rubble across the territory.<\/p>\n On Friday, two bulldozers plowed up pits in the earth as Hamas searched for hostages\u2019 remains in Hamad City, a complex of apartment towers in the city of Khan Younis. Israeli forces repeatedly bombarded the towers during the war, toppling some, and troops conducted a weeklong raid there in March 2024, fighting militants.<\/p>\n Hamas urged mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and start reconstruction. It also called for work to \u201cstart immediately\u201d on setting up a committee of Palestinian independents who will run the Gaza Strip and for Israeli troops to continue pulling back from agreed-upon areas. <\/p>\n The ceasefire plan<\/a> introduced by Trump<\/a> had called for all hostages \u2014 living and dead \u2014 to be handed over by a deadline that expired Monday. But under the deal, if that didn\u2019t happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> has said that Israel \u201cwill not compromise\u201d and demanded that Hamas fulfill the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n Obstacles to retrieving bodies<\/p>\n Hamas has assured the U.S. through intermediaries that it\u2019s working to return dead hostages. American officials say retrieval of the bodies is hampered by the scope of the devastation, coupled with the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance. <\/p>\n The militant group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops. <\/p>\n At a news conference with his German counterpart in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan<\/a> expressed concerns that Israel might use Hamas\u2019 \u201clack of equipment\u201d to recover bodies as a pretext to resume hostilities.<\/p>\n