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

The bodies of 13 deceased hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.

ByKevin Shalvey, Jon Haworth, Emily Shapiro, Nadine El-Bawab, and David Brennan
Last Updated: October 24, 2025, 10:52 AM EDT

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.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 16, 2025, 4:40 PM EDT

State Department working to help get aid into Gaza

The State Department said it deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team last week "to help surge and coordinate aid into Gaza.”

Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, October 14, 2025.
Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters

The team moved into position ahead of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. A majority of the team is based in Jerusalem while other members of the team are based in different parts of the Middle East, a Trump administration official told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan

Oct 16, 2025, 3:14 PM EDT

30 bodies returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities

Thirty bodies were returned to Gaza on Thursday, transferred from Israeli authorities to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Gaza Ministry of Health.

In total, 120 bodies have been transferred from Israeli authorities back to Gaza through the Red Cross since the first phase of the ceasefire deal went into effect.

Oct 16, 2025, 2:46 PM EDT

Israeli forces strike southern Lebanon

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.

Oct 16, 2025, 2:38 PM EDT

2 hostages released from Israeli hospital

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.

Eitan Horn is seen in this undated photo.
Hostage Families Forum
Nimrod Cohen is seen in this undated photo.
Hostage Families Forum

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

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