Israel received the remains of two more hostages last night, hours after the Israeli army said one of the bodies handed over earlier was not that of a hostage, the AP reported, quoted by BTA.
The confusion has further heightened tensions over the fragile ceasefire that ended the two-year war.
They were handed over by “Hamas“ through the Red Cross. After the two coffins arrived in Israel, the army warned that the identities of the hostages had not yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said it had received 45 more bodies of Palestinians from Israel - another step in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. This brings the total number of bodies returned to Gaza to 90. Forensic experts said they showed signs of abuse.
As part of the deal, “Hamas“ handed over four bodies of hostages on Tuesday, after returning four more a day earlier - hours after the release of the last 20 live hostages from Gaza. In total, Israel is awaiting the return of the bodies of 28 hostages.
The Israeli army said forensic experts had determined that "the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages." There was no immediate word on whose body it belonged.
In exchange for the hostages, Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Monday.
US President Donald Trump told CNN today that he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not uphold its part of the ceasefire agreement, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"Israel will be back on these streets the moment I say the word to them," Trump said. "If Israel can go in and kick them, they will," he added in a brief phone call. The statement was made in response to a question about what would happen if Hamas refused to disarm.
It will not be necessary to use the US military to disarm Hamas, Trump said at a White House press conference, BNR reported.
"We will not need the US military because we are already very engaged. If we were not, there would be no peace. If we had not destroyed Iran's nuclear capability, this agreement would never have been implemented. The Arab countries would not have felt brave enough to go ahead with it because Iran was very strong at the time. It's not anymore," Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The US president added that the United States would support Israel in its efforts to disarm "Hamas". America wants the group to lay down its weapons as part of the Gaza peace agreement agreed last week, Reuters agency recalls.
An inter-Arab security force should be established in Gaza within weeks to prevent “Hamas” from regaining control, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with Sky News, quoted by BNR.
When asked whether intervention was needed to prevent “Hamas” from filling the current power vacuum in the Gaza Strip, Ehud Barak replied that he believed security forces were needed, but they should not be international. According to him, they should be inter-Arab, to be there within a few weeks, not a few months, warning that the willingness of “Hamas“ to give up its weapons will decrease over time.
Barak also said that “the only condition for success“ in the Gaza ceasefire plan is “the determination“ of Donald Trump. He indicated that there are concerns that the US president “may lose interest in the issue“ and that his plan to end the war “will take time“.
Ehud Barak said that the war with “Hamas” has damaged Israel's international reputation in the past few months, and it will take time to repair that damage.
”There is a feeling in the world that Israel may have committed war crimes“, Barak said. He believes the creation of a Palestinian state is “the only sustainable“ solution.
”Any other solution will fail. And this is not because we have special feelings about the lives of Palestinians, but because of our own interests“, Barak stressed.