"Hamas must pay"

Missing bodies jeopardize Trump’s peace agreement

Hamas should have handed over 28 bodies on Monday.(Bild: AFP/BASHAR TALEB)

The Islamist Hamas apparently has no idea where the bodies of several hostages are. The terrorists were supposed to hand over 28 dead bodies to Israel on Monday. Now the peace agreement is shaky - the first voices are calling for consequences. 

Following the return of the last 20 surviving hostages from the Gaza Strip to Israel, the handover of the dead hostages has begun, according to the Israeli army. The problem is that so far only four coffins with bodies have arrived at the Red Cross, according to an army spokesman. The mortal remains will now be transported to army representatives in the Gaza Strip, after which they will be examined by forensic doctors for final identification and clarification of the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the Jewish state kept its side of the bargain and Israel released 1968 Palestinians from custody. Many of them have already arrived in Ramallah, in the southern part of the enclave.

In total, the bodies of 28 hostages killed are to be handed over by the end of Monday as part of the Middle East peace plan promoted by US President Donald Trump. According to Israeli government representatives, however, it is not expected that all the bodies will be handed over yet. According to the army, an "international organization" is to help locate the bodies in the Gaza Strip, which has been badly damaged after two years of war.

Family members were allowed to embrace their loved ones:

Relatives: Hamas must "pay the price"
According to the hostage families, they learned during the course of the day that Hamas only wanted to hand over four of the 28 dead hostages to Israel on Monday. They were shocked and dismayed, the hostage families' forum said, and called on the Israeli government and the mediators to take action to correct this "grave injustice": "The mediators must enforce the terms of the agreement and ensure that Hamas pays a price for this violation."

Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that if Hamas deliberately delays the return of the bodies of the dead hostages, this constitutes a violation of the agreement. "The urgent mission we are all committed to now is to ensure the return home of all fallen hostages," he said on Platform X.

"Today's announcement by Hamas to return four bodies represents a failure to fulfill its obligations," Katz said, adding, "Any delay or deliberate evasion will be considered a flagrant violation of the agreement and will be punished accordingly." The terrorist group, on the other hand, told the mediating countries that it did not know where some of the bodies of the 28 hostages killed were located. Israel was aware of this when the agreement was signed.

Hamas should have handed over 28 bodies on Monday.(Bild: AFP/BASHAR TALEB)

An international summit on the Gaza war is currently taking place in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el Sheikh. 31 heads of state and government are there - including Trump. The US President was the first to sign the Gaza agreement and was convinced: "It will hold!"