Report: Israel demanding progress today on return of dead hostages, but is lacking in leverage

14 October 2025, 8:45 am

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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)

Israel has reportedly set the end of today as a deadline for progress on the issue of Hamas returning the bodies of the dead hostages, after it accused the terror group of failing to stand by the commitments it agreed to under the ceasefire by not releasing them all.

Mediators have said the terror group will have trouble locating all of the bodies; however, according to the Kan public broadcaster, Israel believes Hamas is already holding some of the bodies, but did not hand them over.

A source familiar with the matter told Kan that “the writing was on the wall, but only now are we discussing in any significant way the options for response.”

The source said that Israel does not have enough effective leverage on the issue.

An Arab diplomat from a mediating country tells Haaretz that mediators are working on the issue, and do not believe that the Gaza agreement is in jeopardy.

Yesterday, Hamas handed over the caskets holding what the terror group said were the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza. It remained silent on the fate of the 24 other dead hostages it was holding.

The caskets were taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, where they will undergo identification. Hamas has in the past sent back unrelated bodies instead of hostages.