Israel Won’t Reopen Rafah Crossing As Hamas Fails To Return Bodies Of Slain Hostages

Hamas returned just four of 28 hostages’ bodies on Monday, upon releasing all remaining living hostages. But Israeli leaders have condemned what they call a serious breach of what was agreed to in the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.

The Israeli military has so far confirmed the identities of at least two of them – Guy Illouz from Israel and Bipin Joshi, a student from Nepal. Hamas indicated Tuesday it plans to hand over four more of the deceased in late evening hours.

Israel is now saying it will not reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Wednesday and will also take the punitive step of reducing the flow of aid into the territory, until Hamas follows through with returning all of the deceased.

The Red Cross has been warning it could take “much more time” to retrieve the remains of all the hostages due to the extreme conditions inside the Strip.

Some of the families of the hostages which have not been returned are calling on the government to put the Gaza deal on hold until they are returned.

Thus this appears to the be first significant challenge and hurdle in the post-swap part of the deal. Likely some among the hawks and hardliners within the Israeli government want to use this as a justification for the resumption of the war.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu is unlikely to want to provoke Trump, who has boasted that the deal will stick and that this marks a new dawn in the Middle East.

As for Israel not reopening Rafah, per what was agreed, the consensus within the IDF is that Hamas hasn’t made a significant effort to retrieve the bodies.

Hamas accused of a “blatant breach”…

Hamas will release only 4 of the 28 hostage bodies — a blatant breach of the ceasefire deal.
Even in death, they break their word.https://t.co/lNASHpXPWc pic.twitter.com/zUQMjDPR9X

— Trisha Posner (@trishaposner) October 13, 2025

“The moves followed assessments by Israeli defense officials that Hamas has not made significant efforts to return the remaining bodies of the hostages and amid rising anger among their families, with the main group representing them demanding that the ceasefire agreement’s implementation be halted until their loved ones are returned,” Times of Israel writes.

As for the other two bodies handed over, Hamas has said they are 53-year old Yossi Sharabia and 22-year old military officer Cpt. Daniel Perez. Egypt is said to be assisting in the retrieval of the remaining hostages’ remains.