“We have exerted every possible effort to recover the bodies,” Hindi claimed, and Israel “bears full responsibility for any delay in retrieving the remaining ones.”
Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, blamed Israel for delaying the return of the remains of the hostages in a Tuesday interview with Qatari outlet Al Jazeera, refusing to take any responsibility.
“We have exerted every possible effort to recover the bodies,” Hindi alleged, and Israel “bears full responsibility for any delay in retrieving the remaining ones.”
Hamas asked Israel to allow search teams entry into the “red zones” to look for hostage remains and was faced with refusal, according to Hindi. He continued to argue that the terror group “has no interest in hiding any body of a captive or delaying its handover.”
Hindi also claimed in the interview that Hamas is facing “great difficulties” in recovering the remains of deceased hostages in Gaza, and continues to request permission to bring in “heavy equipment” to aid it in the search.
Hamas members search for the remains of deceased hostages, kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 28, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer)
Army Radio, however, confirmed on Sunday that the Israeli government had authorized Hamas members to enter territory under IDF control to join the Red Cross members.
Hamas-affiliated media outlets also reported on Sunday that members of the International Committee of the Red Cross met with Hamas’s “Shadow Unit,” responsible for guarding hostages, to guide them to the location of Israeli remains located in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Furthermore, Israeli sources confirmed on Tuesday that the Palestinian terror group “can immediately return a handful of hostage remains” if it chooses to do so.
Hamas’s continued ceasefire violations
Israel needs to “stop falsely accusing us of violating the agreement,” Hindi said, reaffirming the terror organization’s dedication to the ceasefire, and calling on international mediators to place pressure on Israel to facilitate the return of the remains of deceased hostages left in Gaza.
Last week, Major Yaniv Kula and Staff-Sergeant Itay Yavetz were killed in Rafah after Hamas fired anti-tank missiles and gunfire at them. A third soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident and was taken to a hospital for immediate treatment.
Further violating the ceasefire, Hamas again fired an anti-tank missile and gunshots at IDF troops in Rafah on Tuesday afternoon, marking an additional ceasefire violation by the terrorist group.
The IDF returned fire in order to stop Hamas from further endangering soldiers on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, according to a military source.
Miriam Sela-Eitam, Amichai Stein, Avi Ashkenazi, and Anna Barsky contributed to this report.