Closing summary
Hamas handed over four more bodies of Israeli hostages on Tuesday evening as Israel threatened to reduce aid into Gaza over delays to the release of remains. The Israeli military said in a statement: “According to information provided by the Red Cross, four coffins of deceased hostages have been transferred into their custody and are on their way to IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) forces in the Gaza Strip.”
Four bodies returned earlier were named on Tuesday. Yossi Sharabi, Daniel Peretz, Guy Iluz and Bipin Joshi were named by hostage groups and the Israeli military.
Donald Trump has warned that Hamas must disarm or “we will disarm them”, after he earlier declared that phase two of his ceasefire agreement for Gaza “begins right now”. “They said they were going to disarm, and if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” the US president told reporters. Asked how he would do that, Trump said: “I don’t have explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games.” Trump added that could happen “quickly and perhaps violently”.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed through Wednesday and the flow of aid into the Palestinian enclave will be reduced, three Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
A nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has returned to the West Bank after four years of self-exile, outlining a roadmap to secure peace in Gaza with Hamas transforming into a political party and declaring his readiness to help govern. Nasser al-Qudwa, a prominent critic of the current Palestinian leadership, also urged “a serious confrontation of corruption in this country”.
Some of the near 2,000 Palestinian prisoners released on Monday are suffering from a range of health problems they developed during years in Israeli detention, doctors and freed prisoners in the occupied West Bank told the Associated Press. The Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah received 14 men released on Monday as part of the exchange and discharged all but two.
The European Union should maximise its influence in Gaza’s recovery process and join a US-proposed “Board of Peace” intended to temporarily oversee governance of the territory, the EU’s diplomatic arm said in a document seen by Reuters. Israel and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas carried out a hostage-prisoner exchange on Monday and a ceasefire is in force under the first phase of president Donald Trump’s 20-point initiative for Gaza after two years of war.
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that halts two years of armed conflict in Gaza presents an opportunity for a lasting economic recovery in the region, the International Monetary Fund’s deputy chief economist said on Tuesday. Petya Koeva-Brooks said the IMF stands ready to cooperate with the international community on the recovery of Gaza and regional economies that have been deeply affected by the conflict, including Egypt and Jordan.
Pictures from the news wires show Red Cross vehicles arriving to transport the remains of four more Israeli hostages:
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