Hamas Says It Has Done All It Can to Return Bodies

Hamas says it has done what it can in returning Israeli hostages' remains but claims it needs special equipment to recover any more bodies, potentially putting its fragile ceasefire with Israel on the line. The Israeli military said the two caskets believed to contain the remains of hostages were returned Wednesday, bringing the total to nine and leaving more than a dozen unaccounted for, the Times of Israel reports. The military said earlier Wednesday that one of four sets of remains handed over Tuesday did not match any of the hostages believed to have died in Gaza.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, announced Wednesday that they've handed over all the living captives and bodies they could find, insisting they're fulfilling what was agreed to in last week's internationally brokered truce, the New York Times reports. But the group made clear that digging out more remains amid Gaza's devastation will require gear it doesn't have. President Trump said Wednesday that Hamas is still searching for bodies. "It's a gruesome process," he told reporters at the White House. "They're digging and they're finding a lot of bodies. Then they have to separate the bodies. Some of those bodies have been in there a long time, and some of them are under rubble."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to get ready for a possible return to full-scale fighting if Hamas doesn't comply with the ceasefire deal, which calls for the disarmament of Hamas as well as the return of all hostages. Trump told CNN on Wednesday that Hamas, which has been carrying out public executions in Gaza, is "going in and clearing out the gangs, violent gangs." Asked what would happen if Hamas refuses to disarm, Trump said: "Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap out of them, they'd do that."