Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, handed over the bodies of two Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza on Tuesday evening.

As stated by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Tel Aviv has received the bodies of two Israeli captives from Gaza through the mediation of the Red Cross.

Video footage circulating on social media shows Red Cross personnel receiving the bodies from Al-Qassam Brigades in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army, in a joint statement with the Shin Bet security agency, confirmed that the bodies were transferred from a designated area in southern Gaza by Red Cross vehicles.

Earlier in the day, Al-Qassam Brigades had announced their intention to hand over the bodies at 9 p.m. (Jerusalem time). Hamas later stated that, since the start of the ceasefire agreement last week, 20 live Israeli captives have been released, along with the bodies of 15 out of 28 deceased captives.

The movement emphasized that the process of retrieving and handing over the remaining bodies could take time, noting that many were buried under the rubble of tunnels destroyed by Israeli forces or trapped beneath the debris of bombed buildings. Hamas blamed the occupation for obstructing search operations by preventing the entry of necessary equipment into Gaza.

According to the official data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel’s ongoing war of genocide has caused the death or injury of more than 238,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children. Over 11,000 people remain missing, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and widespread famine has claimed the lives of many, particularly children. The Israeli attacks have also led to the near-total destruction of cities and neighborhoods across the Gaza Strip. (ILKHA)