Remains of American Israeli hostage among 3 bodies returned by Hamas, IDF says

Israeli forces said they resumed the Gaza ceasefire after strikes on Tuesday.

Last Updated: November 3, 2025, 1:40 AM EST

U.S. President Donald Trump pressed Hamas to act faster in returning the bodies of deceased hostages amid a delicate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 13 deceased hostages thought to have died during or after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas has said the return of the remaining bodies "may take some time" due to the destruction wrought in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed the country's military to "carry out powerful strikes in Gaza," a statement from his office said, in response to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday they had resumed the ceasefire.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 28, 2025, 12:30 PM EDT

Netanyahu orders strikes on Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli military to "carry out powerful strikes in Gaza," a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

Oct 28, 2025, 7:01 AM EDT

Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ceasefire violation over hostage remains

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement accusing Hamas of a "clear violation" of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, after Israeli authorities identified hostage remains returned on Monday as belonging to a deceased hostage previously recovered from the strip in 2023.

Red Cross transports remains of a deceased hostage in Gaza City, on Oct. 27, 2025.
Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

The returns received by Israeli authorities on Monday belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, according to the statement published by the prime minister's official X account on Tuesday. Tzarfati was wounded and abducted during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Tzarfati died in captivity and his body was recovered from Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces in late 2023.

"This is a clear violation of the agreement by the terrorist organization Hamas," Netanyahu's office said.

The prime minister "will hold a security discussion with the heads of the defense establishment, in which they will discuss Israel's steps in the face of the violations," it added.

Tzarfati's family released a statement confirming his remains were returned on Monday. The statement accused Hamas of "an abhorrent manipulation designed to sabotage the deal and abandon the effort to bring all the hostages home."

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Othon Leyva

Oct 27, 2025, 4:49 PM EDT

Coffin in IDF custody in Gaza, will be taken to Israel for identification

A coffin has been transferred to the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet forces inside of Gaza from the Red Cross, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a release on Monday.

The IDF will take the coffin to Israel where it will then be taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification.

The Red Cross received the coffin from Hamas at the designated meeting point inside Gaza and then transferred it to IDF troops inside Gaza.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

Oct 27, 2025, 4:29 PM EDT

470,000 movements of people recorded to northern Gaza since ceasefire began, UN says

Since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, 470,000 movements of people have been recorded from southern Gaza to northern Gaza, according to the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, U.N. Spokesperson for the Secretary General Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

Palestinians collect a food ration box provided by the World Food Programme at a distribution centre in the village of Al-Zawayda, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, October 27, 2025.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

"Families are trying to return to their destroyed homes, though many structures are unstable and unexploded ordnance poses a risk. Our partners tell us that water, food and essential services are still desperately needed," Dujarric said during his daily press briefing in New York on Monday.

Between Friday and Saturday, 300 trucks of aid were collected from the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing, according to Dujarric.

"The aid in these trucks included thousands of pallets of wheat flour, supplies for hot meals, canned food as well as rice," he said.

Diapers, jerrycans, hundreds of pallets of health supplies including medical equipment and medicine, as well as tarps, tents and winter clothes also entered Gaza, Dujarric noted.

The U.N. Office for Project Services distributed about 329,000 liters of diesel on Sunday, Dujarric added.

More than one million hot meals were delivered as of Sunday, Dujarric said.

Dujarric added that 15 bakeries supported by the U.N. are now operating and producing "thousands" of loaves of bread in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza City.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman

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