The families of deceased Israeli hostages have voiced outrage after only four bodies were returned from Gaza on Monday.
While 20 living hostages were released by Hamas to be reunited with loved ones under a ceasefire deal, the whereabouts of 24 dead captives remains unknown to their families, leaving them in anguish.
Under the peace deal brokered by Donald Trump, Hamas was supposed to return all the remaining hostages by midday on Monday.
However the terror group warned it would have trouble locating some of the dead bodies.
The bodies of Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi and Daniel Perez were transferred in ambulances from Gaza by the Red Cross.
Yael Adar, the mother of slain hostage Tamir Adar, accused Israel’s government of “betraying” families like hers whose loved ones were killed in captivity and have not been returned.
According to The Times of Israel, Ms Adar said she had asked officials ahead of the hostage deal announced last week what leverage Israel would have to recover the bodies of the 28 dead hostages held by Hamas.
“They told me that a live hostage is worth 100 Palestinian prisoners, including life-termers,” she says. “But a dead hostage is worth 15 Palestinian bodies. Why not 100 dead Palestinians?”
She said Hamas did not breach the agreement – arguing that, because of the way it was drafted, “Israel agreed there was no [absolute] deadline.”
There are reports from Israel that the government has set Hamas a deadline of today (Tuesday, October 14) to release the remaining bodies.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media: "Any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly."
The issue of when and how the remaining dead hostages will be returned home could end up being a serious stumbling block for Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was in Sharm El Sheikh on Monday night to see the US president and fellow negotiators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey sign the agreement after all 20 of the remaining live Israeli hostages were released by Hamas.
Israel and Hamas were not at the summit.
The Israeli hostages were released throughout Monday, after Israel agreed, in exchange, to start freeing more than 1,900 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire deal.
The prisoners include 250 people serving life sentences after being convicted of attacks on Israelis.
Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the hostage transfers at public screenings across the country.
In Tel Aviv, families and friends of the hostages broke into wild cheers as television channels announced the first group was in the hands of the Red Cross.
The freed hostages, all men, were later reunited with their families and footage released by Israeli authorities showed tearful reunions, including old twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 28, embracing as they were reunited.
The 20-point plan set out by the US president calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza along its border with Israel.
An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside the enclave.
The Israeli military has said it will continue to operate defensively from the roughly 50% of Gaza it still controls after pulling back to the agreed-upon lines.
