Israel says pressure on Hamas will continue, intensify until bodies of all dead hostages returned

14 October 2025, 1:01 pm

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The 24 fallen hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, as of October 14, 2025. Top row, from left: Uriel Baruch, Ronen Engel, Muhammad Alatrash, Dror Or, Sonthaya Oakkharasri, Tamir Adar. Second row, from left: Inbar Haiman, Oz Daniel, Hadar Goldin, Meny Godard, Ran Gvili, Sahar Baruch. Third row, from left: Joshua Mollel, Eitan Levy, Itay Chen, Asaf Hamami, Tal Haimi, Arie Zalmanowicz. Bottom row: Sudthisak Rinthalak, Lior Rudaeff, Amiram Cooper, Tamir Nimrodi, Omer Neutra, Eliyahu Margalit. (Times of Israel combo; courtesy)

Amid growing anger after Hamas returned the bodies of only four of the 28 dead hostages yesterday, the Israeli government’s pointman on the hostages, Gal Hirsch, tells the families that pressure on the terror group will continue and intensify until it has kept to the commitments it agreed to under the ceasefire.

The army said earlier its representatives notified the families of Guy Illouz, 26, Nepal national Bipin Joshi, 23, and two other hostages whose names will be published later, that their bodies were returned.

“At this difficult time, our hearts are with the Illouz family, with the Joshi family, and with you, with all of you, the dear families,” Hirsch says.

“We will continue and intensify pressure on Hamas until the return of the hostages has been completed,” he says. “The issue was discussed yesterday in the talks between the prime minister and President [Donald] Trump, and was also expressed last night in [Egyptian] President [Abdel Fattah] el-Sissi’s words.”

“The issue is also being addressed with other international parties and continues in our actions (those of the negotiating team) with the mediators at this very moment. I am in constant contact with our representatives in the talks and have been updated on the details. The issue is at the center of the agenda,” he says.

“The mission is not complete, we are absolutely determined and committed that we will not stop until all the hostages are located and returned home,” Hirsch says.

At the conference on Gaza’s future held yesterday in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, Sissi said he was working to ensure that the deal is fully implemented, including by securing the release of all deceased hostages.

Yael Adar, the mother of slain hostage Tamir Adar, last night delivered a searing criticism of the Israeli leadership’s handling of the issue of the return of hostages’ bodies, telling Channel 12 that the government “betrayed” families like hers whose loved ones were killed in captivity and have not been returned.