Hamas To Return Another Hostage Body As Accusations Of Truce Breach Intensify

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that body parts returned by Hamas overnight were the partial remains of a hostage previously recovered in Gaza by Israeli troops almost two years ago, an announcement that threatened to rattle the tenuous, US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Netanyahu called the return a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement, which requires Hamas to return all Israeli hostage remains as soon as possible. He said he will convene top security officials for an emergency discussion on Tuesday afternoon to weigh Israel’s response.

Israeli media said Netanyahu’s likely options include halting the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, expanding Israeli control of Gaza or carrying out airstrikes targeting Hamas leaders.
There are still 13 bodies of hostages in Gaza, and the slow recovery of those remains is posing a challenge to implementing the next stages of the ceasefire, which will address even knottier issues, such as the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force in Gaza and deciding who will govern the territory.

Hamas has said it is struggling to locate the bodies amid the vast destruction in Gaza, while Israel has accused the militant group of purposely delaying their return. Over the weekend, Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for the bodies of the remaining hostages. That work continued Tuesday in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.

This is the second time since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10 that remains turned over by Hamas have been problematic. Israel said one of the bodies Hamas released in the first week of the ceasefire belonged to an unidentified Palestinian.

During a previous ceasefire in February 2025, Hamas said it handed over the bodies of three hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two sons, but testing showed that one of the bodies returned was identified as a Palestinian woman. Shiri Bibas’ body was returned a day later.

A stricken family
The remains returned overnight have been identified as belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, Netanyahu’s office said.
Tzarfati was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that started the war. Almost 400 people were killed at the festival alone and dozens were abducted. In all, the militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages that day.

Tzarfati was killed in captivity and his body was retrieved by Israeli troops in November 2023. In March 2024, his family received additional remains for burial.

Tzarfati’s family said in a statement that this is the third time “we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son.”

“Since then, we have lived with a wound that constantly reopens, between memory and longing, between bereavement and mission,” it added and described the return of body parts as an “abhorrent manipulation.”