Red Cross heading to Gaza to retrieve another hostage body, says Israel
Earlier, the group representing the Israeli hostages' families demanded that immediate action be taken to ensure Hamas handed over all the bodies. This includes delaying the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan. "The families urge the government of Israel, the United States administration, and the mediators not to advance to the next phase of the agreement until Hamas fulfils all of its obligations," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. It came after Israeli media cited an Israeli security official as saying that the Trump administration wanted to move to the second phase even if not all the hostages were found. On Saturday, Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement that the group was facing "challenges" because Israeli forces had "altered the terrain of Gaza". "Moreover, some of those who buried the bodies have been martyred or no longer remember where they buried them," he added. All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed. Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.