Netanyahu fury as Hamas sends ‘additional’ remains of dead hostage already returned in ‘violation of ceasefire’

Israel accused Hamas of breaching the fragile ceasefire agreement on Tuesday after it received the “additional remains” of a hostage already retrieved in 2023.

Remains transferred from Gaza overnight were identified as those of hostage Ofir Tzarfati, who was killed during Hamas’s October 7 attack, and whose remains were recovered by Israeli forces at the start of the war.

Hamas is expected to return the remains of 13 hostages still held in Gaza as part of a ceasefire arrangement.

The prime minister’s office said the transfer was a “clear violation” of the agreement, increasingly under strain over the return of hostage bodies.

The office said that Benjamin Netanyahu would hold a security assessment with defence officials to discuss a response.

Any response would likely have to first be green-lit by Washington, which brokered the fragile ceasefire this month that has halted two years of war, a senior Israeli official said.

Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, both called on Mr Netanyahu to take tough action against Hamas.

The IDF said late on Monday that the coffin of a deceased hostage had been transferred to the Red Cross and was on the way to IDF troops in Gaza.

Tzarfati’s family claimed they were shown a video of Hamas burying his remains in Gaza before calling the Red Cross to retrieve them.

They accused Hamas of “deception at the expense of our family as we try to recover”, and suggested the “manipulation” was “designed to torpedo the deal and abandon the return of all the hostages”.

“This is the third time that we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son. The circle supposedly closed in December 2023, but it never really closes. Since then, we have been living with the wound that keeps opening, between memory and longing, between bereavement and a sense of mission,” they said in a statement.

Israeli Army Radio reported that a military drone observed Hamas operatives carrying out digging work in Gaza on Monday before bringing out a body from a nearby building and burying it in the hole.

Hamas was alleged to have covered the body in dirt before calling the Red Cross to watch its members uncover it.

Remains were initially recovered at the start of the war and then, in March 2024, taken back to Israel for burial.

Israel has criticised Hamas over the delayed return of hostage bodies, further jeopardising a ceasefire agreement already under pressure from renewed air strikes and blockages to humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

Hamas said it was complying with the ceasefire and doing its best to locate hostage remains, but was hindered by a lack of equipment to identify bodies.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said finding all the bodies was a challenge because of the scale of destruction in Gaza.

Nonetheless, “Hamas will continue to exert every effort possible to hand over the remaining bodies until this issue is fully concluded and as soon as possible,” Qassem said.

The search for hostage bodies accelerated over the past few days since the arrival of heavy machinery from Egypt.

Bulldozers were working in Khan Younis on Tuesday, in the southern Gaza Strip, and further north in Nuseirat, as Hamas masked fighters deployed around them.