Footage appears to show Hamas staging recovery of hostage remains in front of Red Cross

Footage published by Israeli media on Tuesday afternoon appeared to show Hamas terrorists staging the recovery of hostage remains in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Israel Defense Forces drone footage, which was reportedly captured on Monday, shows the terrorists throwing remains out of a window into a pit and covering it with dirt in front of what appears to be an ICRC team.

JNS reached out to an ICRC spokesperson for comment on the video.

Hamas, overnight on Monday, only released remains of Israeli hostage Ofir Tzarfati, whose body had already been retrieved for burial, and not a 16th body, in violation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Tzarfati’s body was retrieved from Gaza as part of an Israeli military operation in 2023, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said, adding that Hamas’s refusal to return a new hostage body “constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

In response to the incident, the IDF said the footage “clearly shows that [Hamas] is attempting to create a false impression of efforts to locate the bodies, while in fact holding deceased hostages whose remains it refuses to release as required by the [ceasefire] agreement.”

The army added that the terror group’s conduct “is accompanied by false claims of shortages in engineering equipment, equipment that is clearly unnecessary for the transfer of remains, and therefore these claims do not constitute an obstacle to the return of the remaining deceased hostages.”

Under U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, the Palestinian terror organization committed to handing over all 48 hostages—both living and deceased—on Oct. 13. While the 20 living captives were all freed that day, Hamas has been slow-walking the return of the 28 bodies.

On Saturday, Trump had urged Hamas to return over the following 48 hours the remains of the deceased hostages the terror group still holds or face action by “the other countries involved” in his peace deal.

“Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly,” he wrote on Truth Social, “or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action.”

“Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now, and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming,” the president continued.

“When I said, ‘Both sides would be treated fairly,’ that only applies if they comply with their obligations,” he added. “Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.”

So far, Hamas has returned only 15 bodies. Israel reportedly believes the terrorist organization can locate at least 10 of the 13 remaining bodies.

In a statement shared by Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Tuesday afternoon, Tzarfati’s family said it was shown “video footage of our beloved son’s remains being removed, buried and handed over to the Red Cross—an abhorrent manipulation designed to sabotage the deal and abandon the effort to bring all the hostages home.”

They went on to state that “we went to sleep last night with anticipation and hope that another family would close an agonizing two-year circle and bring their loved one home for burial, but once again, deception has been inflicted upon our family as we try to heal.”

An urgent discussion between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the security establishment ended on Tuesday without any decisions on Jerusalem’s response to the violations.

A senior Israeli official told Israel’s Channel 12 that the IDF presented a package of possible moves, including renewing the attacks on the Strip. However, Netanyahu was said to have noted that coordination with the Trump administration was needed to see what steps could be taken.