Trump hints at 'action' if Hamas doesn't return hostage bodies

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 19 deceased hostages.

“We know for sure that Hamas can easily release a significant number of [deceased] hostages in accordance with the agreement,” Sa’ar said on Thursday. “What they are doing now is a fundamental violation of the agreement.”

Hamas has handed over the bodies of nine deceased hostages this week and released all 20 living hostages.

“We share our concerns with our American friends, and we expect the mediators to help resolve this problem immediately,” Sa’ar said. “This is very important, because it is about playing with the feelings of families who have suffered enough for more than two years.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Thursday also called on Hamas to “fulfill its obligations under the deal.”

-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Othon Leyva

Israeli officials identified on Thursday the remains of two hostages returned by Hamas the prior evening, saying they were Inbar Hayman, 27, and Muhammad Al-Atresh, 39.

Their families "were informed that their loved ones have been brought back to Israel for burial," Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, said in a statement on Thursday.

Hayman had been at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, Shoshani said. She was killed and her body was taken into Gaza, he said.

"Our beloved Inbar has come home. To her parents, to her brother, to us," Hayman’s family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. "This is a feeling that cannot be described, joy mingled with profound sadness. Now Inbar will receive the rest and honor she so deeply deserves."

Al-Atresh was a sergeant major in the IDF’s Northern Gaza Brigade.

"He fell on the morning of Oct. 7, and his body was taken by Hamas," Shoshani said. "He leaves behind his parents, siblings, two wives, and 13 children."

The youngest of his children was born about two months before Al-Atresh was abducted, the Forum said. That organization and other groups have used alternative spellings for his surname, writing it as Al-Atrash, El-Atrash or al-Atarash.

"A serious man who always took care of his entire family," the Forum said, describing Al-Atresh. "Muhammad loved raising horses and dreamed of establishing a horse farm and a livestock area with sheep and goats."

A U.S.-led coordination center based in Israel that will oversee implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza is expected to become operational in the coming days, two U.S. officials told ABC News.

The command center, which is tasked with coordinating security, aid and rebuilding efforts inside Gaza, is initially expected to be led by a U.S. three-star general, who has not been identified publicly. The commander is expected to have a foreign deputy, who would be the equivalent of a two-star officer, the officials said.

The center is located inside Israel, just northeast of Gaza, at a location not being disclosed to the public for security reasons. Officials said the center will not be located on an Israeli military base to ensure it can remain open to officials from other countries involved in the rebuilding of Gaza.

The center is seen as being key to executing the extraordinary logistics involved in trying to rebuild and secure Gaza after two years of war. The U.S. and other countries are still discussing what an international security force might look like and how it would operate inside the strip, as well as how food and other aid will be distributed.

Trump has already sent 200 U.S. troops to coordinate the heavy lift; those military units specialize in transportation, planning, logistics and security. They will be working alongside representatives from other partner nations, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

Sources said the command center is starting off slow, reaching what the military calls "initial operational capability" in the coming days.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

As senior Israeli officials accuse Hamas of stalling the implementation of the peace agreement, senior U.S. advisers said that the fragile peace deal that ended the war in Gaza seems to be holding, noting that Hamas is making every effort to return the remaining hostage bodies.

"We've heard a lot of people saying, well, you know, Hamas violated the deal, because not all the bodies have been returned. I think the understanding we had with them was we get all the live hostage hostages out, which they did honor that, and right now, we have a mechanism in place where we're working closely with mediators and with them to do our best to get as many bodies out as possible," a senior U.S. adviser said during a background call with reporters Wednesday.

The advisers said they believe both sides want to keep to the deal.

"Obviously, this is a very delicate situation after two years of war, and a lot could still occur, but right now, the intention is to keep working with both parties, getting them both to show restraint and creating the right conditions for demilitarization of Gaza to occur so that it can start to be rebuilt for its citizens and it can be done in a positive way where it does not pose a threat to Israel or its citizens," a senior U.S. adviser said.

The advisers also laid out their main priorities going forward on implementing the peace deal ending the war in Gaza: "deconfliction, humanitarian aid, recovery of the remaining bodies," as well as restoring "whatever order is possible to create the conditions from redevelopment and rebuilding."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart