Israel appeared on Wednesday to be limiting the move of humanitarian support into Gaza in response to what it says is Hamas’ delay in handing over the stays of 21 different hostages nonetheless believed to be within the Palestinian territory. Some individuals concern that is probably not attainable.
The official stated preparations had been ongoing for the crossing to open “for the exit and entry of Gazans only,” however not for support supplies. Nevertheless, the official stated an unspecified quantity of support was nonetheless being transported into Gaza by way of the Kerem Shalom crossing, “and other crossings after Israeli security inspection.”
Calls have mounted because the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took impact on Friday for Israel to permit “full aid” into Gaza, as specified beneath the phrases of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
Israeli officers had stated that 600 support vans per day can be permitted to enter the territory as soon as the U.S.-brokered peace plan took impact. The Israeli authorities has not given particulars on the extent of support visitors it has allowed by way of since then, however there are studies that solely half as many vans have handed into Gaza every day.
Each the Israeli Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board, the group which represents the hostage households, and Israel’s protection minister have stated the whole peace deal must be shelved till all the hostages’ stays are returned by Hamas.
A person mourns as he leans on a casket coated with an Israeli flag throughout a funeral ceremony for Man Illouz, whose stays had been returned to Israel this week, Oct. 15, 2025, in Rishon LeZion, Israel.
Amir Levy/Getty
The Israel Protection Forces, in a number of statements concerning the return of hostages since Friday, has stated solely that “Hamas is required to make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages.”
Hamas did return 4 extra units of stays on Tuesday night, however the Israeli army stated Wednesday that one in every of them was not one of many lacking hostages.
That may imply the stays of 21 hostages nonetheless lie buried someplace amid the ruins of Gaza, together with greater than 11,000 Gazans who stay lacking, in response to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. A part of the issue is that lots of those that oversaw the burial of the deceased hostages are actually useless themselves.
He stated there have been nonetheless “thousands of Gazans who are unaccounted for, who are believed to be buried underneath the rubble of the buildings Israel bombed,” too.
Throughout negotiations to seal the Center East peace deal, Hamas representatives stated they didn’t know the placement of all of the stays of deceased hostages, in response to Israeli media.
A truck carrying gas enters Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, by way of the Karem Shalom crossing as a part of the ceasefire settlement between Israel and Hamas, Oct. 15, 2025.
Abed Rahim Khatib/image alliance/Getty
On the bottom in Gaza, first responders who spent the previous two years dashing in to avoid wasting lives are actually looking for the useless. It’s a gargantuan activity because the Hamas-run territory’s authorities estimates that a minimum of 90% of Gaza’s buildings have been broken or destroyed — and many of the search groups solely have rudimentary instruments.
He is only one of hundreds of Gazans looking for lacking family members.
“When I brought this to the attention of [U.S. senior envoy] Mr. Witkoff last night, I told him this is gonna be an issue. The Israelis are already screaming that Hamas is breaching the agreement,” Baskin stated. “Witkoff said to me, ‘we will not allow that to happen.’ I know that the Egyptians have taken this very seriously. I understand that there are some Egyptians who entered Gaza today to work with Hamas to try and find the bodies. This has to be resolved, and it has to be resolved quickly.”
Trump says “we will disarm” Hamas, as group reasserts energy
The U.S. plan additionally requires an interim governing physique, headed by President Trump, to manage Gaza for an undefined interval earlier than handing over to Palestinian management. However this interim physique has but to be established, and Hamas has already begun to fill the ensuing energy vacuum.
An armed Hamas militant stands guard as a Crimson Cross automobile arrives to obtain the our bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, in Gaza Metropolis, Oct. 14, 2025.
Dawoud Abu Alkas/REUTERS
President Trump reacted to the movies on Tuesday, saying not too long ago that Hamas “did take out a couple of gangs, that were very bad gangs, very, very bad … and that didn’t bother me much to be honest with you.”
“But we have told them we want to disarm and they will disarm,” Mr. Trump stated. “And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of the U.S. army’s Central Command, urged Hamas on Wednesday to “immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza — in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF [Israeli military] behind the Yellow Line.”
“This is an historic opportunity for peace. Hamas should seize it by fully standing down, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay,” Cooper stated in an announcement shared on social media. “We have conveyed our concerns to the mediators who agreed to work with us to enforce the peace and protect innocent Gaza civilians. We remain highly optimistic for the future of peace in the region.”
