Israel’s military has announced that Hamas has transferred the remains of two additional hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza.

Since the ceasefire initiated on October 10, a total of 13 hostages’ remains have been returned to Israel.

With these latest recoveries, there are still 13 remains that need to be located and repatriated from Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urged the public to exercise “sensitivity” and patiently await the official identification process, which will first inform the hostages’ families.

The IDF statement emphasized the expectation that “Hamas must adhere to the agreement and take all necessary measures to return all deceased hostages.”

Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said earlier that the transfer of two hostage bodies was scheduled to take place.

Before Tuesday’s announcement, Hamas had returned 13 of the 28 bodies of deceased hostages agreed to be released in line with the ceasefire agreement with Israel, the latest of which was identified on Monday as Sergeant Major Tal Haimi.

All 13 of those bodies have now been formally identified.

Under the Trump administration’s ceasefire agreement, Hamas was supposed to return all the living and deceased hostages within the first 72 hours of the ceasefire going into effect. Israeli intelligence has assessed that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza.

Hamas has said “significant efforts and special equipment” are needed to recover the bodies in Gaza.

One of the bodies handed over by Hamas under the agreement last week did not belong to an Israeli hostage, according to the Israeli military.

Initial assessments at the time suggested Hamas misidentified the body rather than intentionally sending the wrong one, an Israeli source said.

‘Not going to happen overnight’

The latest hostage release is underway hours after US Vice President JD Vance touched down in Israel and the Trump administration moves to implement the next phase of its ceasefire plan.

Over the weekend, Israel and Hamas affirmed their commitment to the ceasefire deal after Israel accused Hamas of carrying out an attack that killed two IDF soldiers, prompting waves of airstrikes.

Both Hamas and the Israeli military accused the other of violations.

Vance on Tuesday downplayed concerns about the fragility of the ceasefire between the two warring parties but declined to put a timeline on the return of all deceased hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament.

“It is a focus of everybody here to get those bodies back home to their families, so that they can have a proper burial. Now, that said, this is difficult. This is not going to happen overnight,” Vance said at a press conference in Israel.

The US vice president also said some of the deceased hostages are “buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to get them.”