After promising to deliver the bodies of four Israeli hostages who died in captivity in Gaza, Hamas on Tuesday delivered the bodies of three hostages and a fourth body that was not any of the hostages taken after the massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
The bodies of Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, 18; Eitan Levy, 53; and Uriel Baruch, 35, were returned to Israel along with what Israeli officials said was the body of a Palestinian from Gaza, according to the Times of Israel.
“Following the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday, according to NBC.
To date, the bodies of seven hostages have been returned. Hamas was said to be holding the bodies of 28 hostages. All 20 hostages who survived captivity were returned to Israel on Monday.
Under the deal, Hamas is required to return all the bodies of the hostages.
Hamas insisted in a report by Al-Jazeera, the body belonged to an Israel solider killed last year, the Times of Israel reported. Israel has rejected that claim.
Hamas has used the damage inflicted on Gaza City as an excuse not to return all the bodies of the hostages at once.
Rotem Cooper — whose father, Amiram Cooper, is among the hostages who died in Gaza — said Hamas must be forced to deliver what it promised, according to the BBC.
“It’s not over, and it’s going to be a longer battle,” he said.
Will Hamas follow the terms of the peace deal?
“It’s clear to us that [Hamas] could have and should have released more, and they’re playing games.”
Cooper called for President Donald Trump and Arab nations “to show Hamas that this is not acceptable.”
An Israeli official said that sending the wrong body could have been a mistake, as happened in February when a body Hamas said was that of slain hostage Shiri Bibas was not one of any hostage. Her body was later returned to Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Post said another release of the bodies of hostages was scheduled for later Wednesday.
The Post cited an Israeli media report that said Hamas did not take the conditions of the deal seriously at first and has only recently begun serious efforts to recover the bodies of the hostages.
Amid reports that Hamas was executing rivals in Gaza, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the peace deal requires Hamas to disarm, according to NBC.
“First, Hamas has to give up its arms. And second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There’s no smuggling of weapons into Gaza. That’s demilitarization,” Netanyahu said.
Trump said Hamas must disarm or face the consequences.
“They’re going to disarm, because they said they are going to disarm, and if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” he said. “And it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But they will disarm.”
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