Israel Presses Hamas to Return Remaining Hostage Remains as Trump Says ‘Nobody Is Getting Left Behind’
Key Facts
- Israel says Hamas knows burial sites of more slain hostages but is withholding remains.
- Two bodies — Inbar Haiman and Muhammad el-Atrash — returned Wednesday night.
- Israel warns next Gaza ceasefire phase frozen until Hamas complies.
- Trump vows to continue recovery efforts: “Nobody is getting left behind.”
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
(Worthy News) – Israel is demanding that Hamas hand over the remains of hostages still held in Gaza, as U.S. President Donald Trump vowed that “nobody is getting left behind,” underscoring Washington’s continued commitment to recovering every captive and fallen Israeli taken during the October 7, 2023, terror attacks.
An Israeli security source told public broadcaster KAN that Hamas “knows very well” where the remains of a “double-digit number” of slain hostages are located but is not making sufficient effort to recover and return them. Nineteen bodies are still believed to be inside Gaza.
The comments came as Hamas transferred two caskets containing the remains of Inbar Haiman, 27, of Haifa, and Muhammad el-Atrash, 39, a father of 13 from Sa’wa, late Wednesday night. The bodies were handed to the Red Cross in Gaza City and then transferred to the Israel Defense Forces, who identified them at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv.
Haiman was murdered by terrorists at the Nova music festival near Re’im on October 7 and abducted into Gaza, while el-Atrash, an IDF tracker, was killed fighting Hamas gunmen near Nahal Oz. The Prime Minister’s Office expressed “deep sorrow” and vowed to continue the mission “to bring back all our fallen hostages for proper burial in their homeland.”
ISRAEL: GAZA DEAL ON HOLD UNTIL HAMAS COMPLIES
Israeli officials have told the Trump administration that Hamas is “not doing enough” to recover and transfer hostage remains, warning that the next stage of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire cannot proceed unless Hamas acts.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the military to prepare a “plan to crush Hamas” if the terror group fails to meet its obligations. “If Hamas refuses to comply with the agreement, Israel, in coordination with the United States, will resume fighting to achieve a total defeat of Hamas,” Katz’s office said.
TRUMP: ‘NOBODY IS GETTING LEFT BEHIND’
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Hamas is searching for the remaining deceased hostages in Gaza. “It’s a gruesome process… They’re digging and finding a lot of bodies under rubble and in tunnels deep underground,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump’s senior advisers confirmed that U.S. mediators are working “in good faith” with Hamas to recover more remains and that Washington continues to supply intelligence based on Israeli data. “We’re not going to leave here until everybody comes home,” one Trump aide said. “Nobody is getting left behind.”
Another senior U.S. official said the administration is exploring ways to incentivize Gazans to assist in locating remains, possibly through a reward program. Turkey, which has experience in disaster recovery operations, has reportedly offered to help locate and retrieve the bodies.
HAMAS CLAIMS IT HAS DONE ALL IT CAN
Hamas’s military wing maintains that it has already returned “all the bodies it was able to reach,” saying further recovery requires “special equipment and great effort.”
Israeli and American officials dispute that claim. “We don’t see Hamas making maximum effort regarding the bodies,” one Israeli official told Axios. “We know they can do more.”
U.S. mediators acknowledge that Gaza’s devastation–compounded by massive rubble and unexploded ordnance–has made recovery operations difficult but say the process will continue until all are returned. “It may take time,” one senior Trump official said, “but we can’t allow the deal to collapse.”
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