Israel accuses Hamas of violating ceasefire deal

Israel will respond after Hamas handed over human remains that did not belong to missing Israeli hostages, which Israel considers a violation of the Gaza ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Oct 28.

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Hamas said it was complying with the ceasefire and doing its best to locate hostage remains, but was hindered by a lack of equipment to identify bodies.

Mr Netanyahu said human remains handed over by Hamas overnight belonged to a hostage whose body had already been recovered by Israeli forces earlier in the war, rather than one of the 13 hostages yet to be recovered. He will convene his defence chiefs later on Oct 28 to decide on "Israel's next steps" in response, he said.

Mr Netanyahu said remains handed over on Oct 27 belonged to Mr Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli killed during Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack that precipitated the war.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said finding all the bodies was a challenge because of the scale of destruction in Gaza.