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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel could act if bodies of the hostages held by Hamas are not returned to Israel.

"I know exactly how many hostage bodies Hamas is holding and, if we don't receive them, Israel will know how to act accordingly," Netanyahu said on Thursday night.

"As the Prime Minister has emphasized, the 20-point plan enables all of Israel’s war objectives to be met once it is implemented. Namely, the dismantlement of Hamas capabilities, the demilitarization of Gaza and the deradicalization of radical Palestinians," said Ophir Falk, foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu.

"If it’s not implemented Israel will have to carry out more -- from a much better place than we were last week. Now that all the live hostages have been freed. Military operations will be much easier to carry out if needed,” said Falk.

Returning the bodies of the remaining hostages that are held in Gaza "may take some time," Hamas said Thursday.

The bodies are "buried in tunnels" that were destroyed by Israeli military action, Hamas said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump discussed the "issue of the return" of the dead hostages during a phone call Thursday, Israeli hostage coordinator Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch said in a statement to hostage families.

"The contact between us and the Americans and the mediators continues continuously, the pressure on Hamas continues and will intensify," Hirsch said.

President Donald Trump clarified that U.S. troops would not be going into Gaza after he posted on social media earlier Thursday that Hamas should stop killing people in Gaza or else "we will have no choice but to go in and kill them."

"I didn’t say who would go in but somebody will go in. It's not going to be us. We won't have to," Trump told reporters. "There are people very close, very nearby, that will go in, they'll do the trick very easily. But under our auspices."

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa

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

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