Hamas reaffirms commitment to ceasefire as delays in returning hostages'
bodies fray nerves
[October 17, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas moved Friday to shore up its
brittle ceasefire agreement with Israel by reaffirming its commitment to
the terms of the deal that includes a pledge to hand over the remains of
all dead Israeli hostages.
The militant group’s statement released in the early hours Friday
follows a dire warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that he would
green-light Israel to resume the war if Hamas doesn't live up to its end
of the deal and return all of the hostages' bodies.
Hamas, however, maintains that some bodies were buried in tunnels that
were later destroyed by Israel, and heavy machinery is required to dig
through rubble to retrieve them.
The group also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over
his call to cut aid to Gaza, saying it was an attempt to manipulate
humanitarian needs “for political gains.”
The ceasefire plan introduced by Trump had called for all hostages —
living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired Monday.
But under the deal, if that didn’t happen, Hamas was to share
information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as
possible.
Netanyahu has said that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that
Hamas fulfill the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the
return of hostages’ bodies.
Obstacles to retrieving bodies
Hamas has assured the U.S. through intermediaries that it's working to
return dead hostages. American officials say retrieval of the bodies is
hampered by the scope of the devastation in the territory, coupled with
the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance.
The militant group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas
controlled by Israeli troops.
On Wednesday, Israel received the remains of two more hostages shortly
after its military said that one of eight bodies previously handed over
wasn't that of a hostage. Israel awaits in total the return of the
bodies of 28 hostages.
Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday. In exchange,
Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Israel has also returned to Gaza the bodies of 90 Palestinians for
burial. Israel is expected to turn over more bodies, though officials
have not said how many are in its custody or how many will be returned.
It is unclear whether the remains belong to Palestinians who died in
Israeli custody or were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops. Throughout
the war, Israel’s military has exhumed bodies as part of its search for
the remains of hostages.
A Palestinian forensics team examining the remains said some of the
bodies showed signs of mistreatment.
Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross and the
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
France says international force for Gaza is in the pipeline
Meanwhile, France said it's working with its ″British and American
partners″ to propose a U.N. resolution in the coming days that would
provide a framework for the international force for Gaza.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told a news
conference Thursday that Arab countries are “very insistent” on having a
U.N. mandate for this force.
″This resolution would allow a framework for the deployment of this
mission, in support ... of Palestinian security forces, who are in the
process of evaluating what they will need and what they are capable of
doing,″ he said.
He wouldn’t say whether France could eventually take part or what its
role would be. ″First the mandate,″ he said, followed by which countries
will be involved, and then specifics about who is providing what, which
could include equipment, training, money.
Confavreux said aid, reconstruction and security efforts should be
centralized within the U.N. system.
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Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air
operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip during the sunrise, as
seen from southern Israel, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo
Correa)
Killings in Gaza fray nerves
Hamas was also put on the defensive after Trump warned that “we will
have no choice but to go in and kill them ” if the militant group
didn't cease killings of rival factions inside Gaza.
Trump said it won't be U.S. forces that will mete out any punishment
but "people very close, very nearby that will go in and they’ll do
the trick very easily, but under our auspices.”
The president did not specify if he was speaking of Israel, but
action by Israeli forces could risk violating terms of the ceasefire
agreement.
A Hamas official Thursday defended the killings of alleged gang
members that the militant group carried out in Gaza since Monday.
Speaking in Beirut, Hamas' political representative in Lebanon Ahmed
Abdul-Hadi said the individuals who were killed “caused death and
corruption in Gaza and killed displaced persons and aid seekers."
Hadi said the decision to sentence them to death had come from the
“judiciary,” apparently referring to tribal customary judicial
procedures. There are no functioning formal courts in the
war-battered enclave.
“This was done by a Palestinian national and tribal consensus,” he
said. “I mean, their clan agreed to this and not just Hamas.”
Wait for a large infusion of aid into Gaza goes on
The U.N. said the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains
constrained because of continued closures of crossings and
restrictions on aid groups to bring in relief.
According to the U.N. dashboard that monitors the movement of aid
trucks into Gaza, only 339 trucks reached the territory and were
offloaded for distribution since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said rapid and unimpeded access,
sustained fuel entry, restored infrastructure, protection of aid
workers, and adequate funding are needed for the U.N.’s 60-day aid
delivery plan to work.
Currently, only 15 humanitarian organizations are authorized by
Israel to deliver aid into Gaza.
Gaza’s truck drivers’ association, which organizes pickups of aid
from the Gaza side of the border after Israeli inspection, said
there has been no significant ramping up of supplies arriving into
Gaza since the ceasefire. But it cited improved security that has
prevented looting or gangs intercepting aid convoys.
“There is no breakthrough,” said Nahed Sheheiber, the head of Gaza's
private truckers' union. “There is no improvement except in one
thing, the security of trucks that enables them to reach the
warehouses.”
Only 70 trucks entered Gaza on Thursday, Sheheiber said, adding that
the wait time for truck inspections and coordination is still long.
Since the beginning of the ceasefire, at least nine humanitarian
organizations have gradually resumed services in Gaza City and parts
of northern Gaza for displaced families and returnees, according to
the U.N. humanitarian affairs report released Thursday.
___
Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this
report.
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