Israel warned Tuesday it would reduce the amount of aid flowing into Gaza over Hamas’ slow release of the remains of deceased hostages.
While the Gaza ceasefire deal required the immediate handover of all remaining bodies, Hamas said destruction in the enclave has made some difficult to locate. The back-and-forth provides an early test for the tenuous truce: US President Donald Trump also heaped pressure on Hamas, saying it must disarm or “we will disarm them… quickly and perhaps violently.”
Hamas, which returned more bodies after Israel’s threat, will “play along” with the ceasefire, an expert on the group wrote in Foreign Affairs. But it “will fight tooth and nail to preserve its political and military standing in Gaza.”