This morning, the Red Cross took custody of the remains of two additional hostages held by Hamas, shortly after the Israeli military reported that a previously returned body was not one of the hostages.

This mix-up has heightened the already delicate situation surrounding the tenuous ceasefire that has put a halt to the ongoing two-year conflict.

The Israeli military confirmed that the remains were received by the International Committee of the Red Cross and would be handed over to Israeli forces stationed in Gaza.

Earlier today, local military officials clarified that a body initially handed over by Hamas did not belong to a hostage who had been confined in Gaza, further complicating the fragile truce.

In related developments, the Gaza Health Ministry reported the receipt of 45 additional Palestinian bodies from Israel as part of the ceasefire’s implementation. This brings the total number of returned bodies for burial in Gaza to 90, with forensic teams noting evidence of mistreatment on the remains.

As part of the deal, four bodies of hostages were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday, following four on Monday that were returned hours after the last 20 living hostages were released from Gaza. In all, Israel has been awaiting the return of the bodies of 28 hostages.

The Israeli military said forensic testing showed that “the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.” There was no immediate word on whose body it was.

In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel freed around 2000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees Monday.

Unidentified bodies returned to Gaza show signs of abuse

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.

As forensic teams examined the first remains returned, the Health Ministry on Wednesday released images of 32 unidentified bodies to help families recognise missing relatives.

Many appeared decomposed or burned. Some were missing limbs or teeth, while others were coated in sand and dust. Health officials have said Israeli restrictions on allowing DNA testing equipment into Gaza have often forced morgues to rely on physical features and clothing for identification.

The forensics team that received the bodies said some arrived still shackled or bearing signs of physical abuse.

Sameh Hamad, a member of a commission tasked with receiving the bodies at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, said some arrived with their hands and legs cuffed.

“There are signs of torture and executions,” he told The Associated Press.

The bodies, he said, belonged to men ages 25 to 70. Most had bands on their necks, including one that had a rope around the neck.

Most of the bodies wore civilian clothing, but some were in uniforms, suggesting they were militants.

Hamad said the Red Cross provided names for only three of the dead, leaving many families uncertain of their relatives’ fate. The fighting has killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in Gaza. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Rasmiya Qudeih, 52, waited outside Nasser Hospital, hoping her son would be among the 45 bodies transferred from Israel on Wednesday.

He vanished on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attack that triggered the war. She was told he was killed by an Israeli strike.

“God willing, he will be with the bodies,” she said.

The Health Ministry released a video showing medical workers examining the bodies, saying the remains would be returned to families or buried if left unidentified.

Netanyahu says Israel won’t compromise

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Hamas fulfill the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages’ bodies.

“We will not compromise on this and will not stop our efforts until we return the last deceased hostage, until the last one,” Netanyahu said.

The ceasefire plan introduced by US President Donald 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.

This is not the first time Hamas has returned a wrong body to Israel. During a previous ceasefire, the group said it handed over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons – among those taken in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, in which some 1200 people were killed and 251 abducted.

Testing in February 2025 showed that one of the bodies returned was identified as a Palestinian woman. Bibas’ body was returned a day later.

Hamas and the Red Cross have said that recovering the remains of dead hostages was a challenge because of Gaza’s vast destruction, and Hamas has told mediators that some are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

Two hostages whose bodies were released from Gaza were being buried Wednesday.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem said on the Telegram messaging app that the group was working to return the bodies of the hostages as agreed.

Kassem also accused Israel of violating the deal with shootings Tuesday in eastern Gaza City and the southern city of Rafah.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military is operating along the deployment lines troops withdrew to under the deal, and he warned that anyone approaching the lines will be targeted, as happened Tuesday with several militants.

The World Food Program said its trucks began arriving in Gaza after the entrance of humanitarian aid into Gaza was paused for two days due to the exchange on Monday and a Jewish holiday Tuesday.

The timing of the scaled-up deliveries – which are part of the ceasefire deal – had been called into question after Israel said Tuesday that it would cut the number of trucks allowed into Gaza, saying Hamas was too slow to return the hostages’ bodies.

Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the World Food Program, lauded the trucks’ passage but said the situation remained unpredictable.

“We’re hopeful that access will improve in the coming days,” she said.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel and medical supplies were bound for Gaza on Wednesday.

COGAT declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday.

“Throughout this crisis, we have insisted that withholding aid from civilians is not a bargaining chip,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.