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 Israel Defense Forces said it struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
“This infrastructure enabled Hezbollah's continuous activity and the reestablishment of its terrorist activity under civilian disguise in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement.
Two of the surviving hostages who returned to Israel on Monday, Eitan Horn and Nimrod Cohen, have been released from the Tel Aviv Ichilov Medical Center, hospital officials said.
They mark the first of the 20 surviving hostages to be released from a hospital after returning to Israel on Monday.
Cohen, now 21, was a 19-year-old soldier when he was kidnapped, according to the BBC. Horn is a beloved youth leader who helped welcome newcomers to Israel, according to The Jerusalem Post.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
President Donald Trump is threatening to "go in and kill" Hamas members in Gaza after Hamas-linked gunmen appeared to carry out a public execution in Gaza this week.
"If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump posted on Truth Social.
This comes after Hamas-linked gunmen appeared to carry out a public execution in Gaza on Monday, according to an eyewitness and video verified by ABC News. The video shows seven men blindfolded and kneeling at gunpoint as masked fighters were poised to shoot them in the head from behind. An edit from Reuters freezes the video at the moment shots are fired but the audio of gunshots continues.
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
