The bodies of 13 deceased hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.
U.S. officials -- including Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- traveled to Israel this week for high-level meetings, discussing the next steps in the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
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.
The remains of four more hostages have been handed over to Israel.
Four coffins of deceased hostages, escorted by Israeli forces, crossed the border into Israel, headed to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where officials will carry out identification procedures.
There are still believed to be 20 hostage bodies remaining in Gaza.
The United Nations and other aid organizations “have been able to move more freely across parts of Gaza from which Israeli forces have withdrawn,” since the first phase of the ceasefire deal went into effect, U.N. Deputy spokesperson for the Secretary General Farhan Haq said at a press briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York Tuesday.
"This improved access has allowed partners to scale up the response to the most urgent needs," Haq said.
World Health Organization teams reached Al Ahli Hospital with eight trucks of medical supplies on Monday, and their teams reached the European Hospital in Khan Younis to transfer critical medications and intensive care unit equipment to Nasser Hospital, Haq said.
"The U.N. and our humanitarian partners have also installed a solar panel for a desalination unit in Deir al Balah, as well as new telecommunications hardware to improve connectivity for affected people and humanitarian operations," Haq said.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are on their way to retrieve the remains of several hostages held by Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
It is unclear how many remains will be handed over.
Asked about how long it would take Hamas to disarm and if it can be guaranteed the group will do so, President Donald Trump said they would do so by force if necessary.
"If they don't disarm, we will disarm them. They know I'm not playing games. Now we did something monumental. We got the hostages back. That was the first thing we had to do," Trump said in response to a question from ABC News' Karen Travers at the White House on Tuesday.
"I spoke to Hamas and I said, you're going to disarm, right? Yes sir, we're going to disarm. That's what they told me. They will disarm or we will disarm them," Trump said.
