Israel cuts Gaza aid by half, as four captive bodies handed over

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Hamas has reportedly told mediators it is planning to return the bodies of four more Israeli captives later on Wednesday, according to The Times of Israel.

The Israel daily cited two anonymous sources, including a diplomat who it said was familiar with the matter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed President Trump's earlier calls for Hamas to disarm, in an interview with CBS news in Jerusalem.

"The conditions in his 20-point peace plan are very clear. It’s not only that we get the hostages out, without getting our military out, but that we would subsequently have both demilitarisation and disarmament," he said.

"First, Hamas has to give up its arms, and second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza; there’s no smuggling of weapons into Gaza. That’s demilitarisation."

The Israeli leader went on to say that he hopes the disarmament happens peacefully. "If not, I think I heard the president speak tonight, and he said, listen, they better do it, or…, he said, all hell breaks loose."

Unexploded ordnance in Gaza poses "enormous" risks for displaced people returning home during a US-led ceasefire, the NGO Handicap International warned Tuesday, calling for the entry of equipment needed for demining.

"The risks are enormous - an estimated 70,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza" since the start of the war, said Anne-Claire Yaeesh, the organisation's director for the Palestinian territories.

Handicap International specialises in mine clearance and assistance to victims of anti-personnel mines.

Unexploded ordnance, ranging from undetonated bombs or grenades to simple bullets, has become a common sight in the Gaza Strip during the two years of the war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

"The layers of rubble and levels of accumulation are extremely high," Yaeesh said.

She warned that the risks are aggravated by the "extremely complex" nature of the environment, due to the limited space in densely populated urban areas.

Israeli forces on Tuesday evening briefly held a news team from the Palestinian news agency Wafa near the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah.

Wafa correspondent Aseel Sadeq said that she and her colleague Mohammad Barghouthi were held for a short period while returning from Burqa, where she had been preparing a report on violations committed against the village by Israeli soldiersand settlers.

She added that the forces stopped their vehicle, searched it, and questioned them about their journalistic assignment.

The remains of four additional captives handed over by Hamas on Tuesday were brought into Israel from Gaza, the military said.

"Four coffins of deceased hostages... crossed the border into the state of Israel a short while ago," the military said in a statement, adding that they were being taken for forensic testing

The Israeli military said on Tuesday the remains of four more captives were transferred to the Red Cross in Gaza.

"According to information provided by the Red Cross, four coffins of deceased hostages have been transferred into their custody and are on their way to IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) forces in the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.

Israel's national anthem was booed by a portion of the crowd at Tuesday's 2026 World Cup qualifier with Italy after a pro-Palestinian demonstration ended with violent clashes between police and protestors.

A large section of the 10,000 crowd in Udine loudly booed the anthem, before being drowned out by applause from the rest of those present at the Bluenergy Stadium.

The small number of Israel fans also applauded their team and sung their country's anthem.

Before the match thousands of activists descended on Udine in northeastern Italy for a march, calling for a sporting boycott of Israel and chanting slogans like "Free Palestine".

Over 1,000 police officers and military personnel were on the street as helicopters and drones watched on, but that didn't stop violence erupting after sunset, with teargas and a water cannon used on protestors.

Italy are second in Group I, six points behind leaders Norway and three ahead of third-placed Israel with a game in hand on both.

The Israeli military said Tuesday the Red Cross was on its way to collect the remains of several hostages held by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.

"The Red Cross is on its way to the meeting point in the northern Gaza Strip, where several coffins of deceased hostages will be transferred into their custody," the military said in an updated statement, after earlier announcing the handover was to happen in southern Gaza.

Earlier, a senior Hamas official told AFP that the group was due to hand over the remains of four to six hostages later on Tuesday.

On Monday, Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages, just hours after releasing the last 20 living captives.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas must disarm or the militant group will be disarmed.

"If they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently," Trump said during a meeting at the White House with Argentine President Javier Milei.

Hamas official says group will hand over bodies of four to six captives 'tonight'.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he expected news on the remaining dead hostages still held in Gaza "within hours".

"We will soon receive news -- hopefully within hours -- about the return of additional fallen hostages. But we are determined to bring everyone back," Netanyahu said while visiting hostages freed Monday at a hospital in central Israel.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas failed to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.

"I call on the prime minister to set a clear ultimatum for Hamas: if you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen soldiers and continue with these delays - we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the Gaza Strip," Ben-Gvir said on his Telegram channel.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced on Truth Social the beginning of phase two of a Gaza deal, amid a darkening outlook for the ceasefire agreement as Israel delays aid and Hamas tightened its grip on the enclave

The Hamas militant group has published an online video showing its fighters executing eight blindfolded, bound and kneeling men in the street.

Hamas's armed groups are carrying out a campaign against Palestinian criminal gangs and clans in Gaza in the wake of a ceasefire with Israeli forces.

The video was broadcast late Monday on Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV's Telegram channel with the caption: "The resistance carries out the death sentence against a number of collaborators and outlaws in Gaza City."

An Israeli group campaigning for the release of captives said the remains of Daniel Peretz, who was killed in the October 2023 attack and whose body was taken to Gaza, were among those returned a day earlier.

"The Hostages and Missing Families Forum embraces the family of Daniel Shimon Peretz at this difficult time, following the return of their beloved Daniel to Israel yesterday for a proper burial," the forum said in a statement.

Israel has told the United Nations it will only allow 300 aid trucks - half the agreed number - into the Gaza Strip from Wednesday and that no fuel or gas will be allowed into the enclave except for specific needs related to humanitarian infrastructure, according to a note seen by Reuters and confirmed by the UN.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, confirmed the UN had received the note from COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza.

COGAT had said on Friday that it expected about 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily during the ceasefire.

The COGAT note said the restrictions were being taken because "Hamas violated the agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the hostages."

A major ramp-up of aid needed to ease famine and suffering in Gaza after two years of war has yet to happen, the Red Cross and UN agencies said on Tuesday, as Israeli authorities warned of slower aid flows as the southern Rafah crossing remained shut.

Three Israeli officials said Israel had decided to restrict aid into the shattered Gaza Strip and delay plans to open the border crossing to Egypt at least through Wednesday, because Hamas had been too slow to turn over bodies of dead hostages.

The militant group has said locating the bodies is difficult, as not all burial sites amid the widespread rubble of Gaza are known.

"We need all crossings open. The longer Rafah stays closed the more the suffering prolongs for people in Gaza, especially those displaced in the South," UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said.

COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, said on Friday that it expected about 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily during the ceasefire. It did not respond to a request for further comment on Tuesday.

All of the aid so far has been through the south and central crossing of Kissufim, UN agencies said, with those at the epicentre of the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, to where tens of thousands of people are returning, still shut.

Hamas has informed mediators it will begin transferring bodies of four deceased Israeli hostages to Israel at 10 pm local time (1900 GMT) on Tuesday, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.

Earlier, Israeli officials said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed at least through Wednesday and the flow of aid into the Palestinian enclave would be reduced to put pressure on the militant group to hand over the bodies of the hostages it is holding.

The European Union should maximise its influence in Gaza's recovery process and join a US-proposed "Board of Peace" intended to temporarily oversee governance of the enclave, the EU's diplomatic arm said in a document seen by Reuters.

"It is important to obtain more clarity on essential elements currently not fully elaborated, notably which role the Palestinians will have in post-war Gaza," said the European External Action Service document, which assesses the plan and was circulated to diplomats this month.

"The EU should be a member of the future Board of Peace oversight body in order to influence strategic choices."

The 27-member EU is among the largest financial backers of the Palestinian Authority, which is seeking a significant role in Gaza after being driven out by Hamas in 2007 but must enact reforms before it can assume power.

"The EU should maximise its leverage with a view to gaining more influence on the process through the variety of tools at its disposal," the document said.

A 2025-27 EU funding programme sets aside 1.6 billion euros ($1.85 billion) for the PA and the Palestinian territories.

In the short term, the EU deems it could increase funding in Gaza, leverage civil protection assets and act as third-party monitoring as part of humanitarian aid efforts and "infrastructure rehabilitation".

It could also use an existing mission known as EUBAM Rafah to provide a neutral third-party presence at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the document said.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has said that 44 bodies have been brought into hospitals in the enclave, including 38 ho were retrieved from under the rubble, over the last 24 hours. 

The announcement raises the death toll from Israel's war on the enclave to 67,913 Palestinians killed.

Israel has stopped the opening of the Rafah border crossing, citing a failure by Hamas to hand over the remaining bodies of dead Israeli captives held in the enclave, according to the Times of Israel, which added that Israel would restrict the flow of aid into the enclave as part of sanctions against Hamas.

Despite Israeli accusations that Hamas has not done enough to return the bodies of Israeli captives, the Red Cross has said that finding many could be difficult and may take days or weeks, and that there is a possibility that some bodies may never be found.

The bodies of 45 Palestinians that had been in Israeli custody were handed over to a Gaza hospital Tuesday, the Nasser Medical Centre said.

Under a ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.

On Monday, Hamas gave up three Israeli bodies and one Nepalese for transfer.

Italy's 2026 World Cup qualifier with Israel will be prefaced by a major pro-Palestinian demonstration on Tuesday as thousands of people prepare to march through Udine in anger at the hosting of a match they feel should not be played.

The Gaza ceasefire deal signed on Monday and a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has done nothing to dampen the resolve of around 10,000 protestors who will descend on the small city in Italy's far north-east amid a massive security operation.

Over 1,000 police officers and army personnel have been deployed while helicopters and drones will fly overhead to keep a watch on a march which was to begin at 5:30pm (1530 GMT) and be kept several kilometres away from the Bluenergy Stadium hosting the Group I fixture later.

The security operation has been designed to stop disorder and ensure no-one gets near the stadium or the Israel team.

Udine was quiet in the hours before the demonstration due to a series of restrictions on bars and restaurants.

Checkpoints have been put up in a ring around the ground, with spectators having to pass concrete barriers and metal detectors in order to watch a match which is key to Italy's bid to ensure they qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 2014.

A first batch of bodies of Palestinians killed during the Gaza war has arrived in the enclave after being released by Israel, local health authorities told Reuters on Tuesday.

Israel still holds hundreds of bodies of Palestinians killed since 7 October, 2023, including of fighters who took part in the attack and the fighting afterwards. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday the truce between Hamas and Israel must not come at the expense of holding accountable those responsible for the "genocide" in Gaza.

"Peace cannot mean forgetting; it cannot mean impunity," the Socialist premier said during an interview with Cadena Ser radio.

"Those who were key actors in the genocide perpetrated in Gaza must answer to justice, there can be no impunity," he added when asked about the possibility of legal proceedings against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sanchez, who attended a peace summit on Gaza in Egypt on Monday, reaffirmed that Spain's arms embargo on shipments to and from Israel remains in place.

"We will maintain this embargo until the process is consolidated and definitively moves towards peace," he said.

Sanchez also suggested Spain could take part in future efforts to secure peace and aid reconstruction in Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday it will take time to hand over the remains of hostages and detainees killed in Israel's war on Gaza, calling it a "massive challenge" given the difficulties of finding bodies amid Gaza's rubble.

"That's an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released. That's a massive challenge," said the ICRC's spokesperson Christian Cardon, adding it could take days or weeks and that there was a possibility they would never be found.

"I think that there is clearly a risk that that will take much more time. What are we telling the parties is that that should be their top priority," he added.

He declined to answer further details about the possible whereabouts of the deceased hostages, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing operation.

Israel's gymnasts will not be able to compete at the upcoming world championships in Indonesia after sport's highest court on Tuesday rejected requests from the Israeli federation (IGF) to "guarantee the participation" of its team.

Indonesian authorities denied Israeli gymnasts entry visas for the championships later this month, before the IGF demanded the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to either guarantee its athletes' presence or to move or cancel the event.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross called Tuesday for all crossings into Gaza to be opened to allow desperately-needed aid into the war-torn Palestinian territory.

"That's what humanitarians, including ICRC, have been calling for in the last hours is making sure that, because of the huge needs, all entry points can be open," Red Cross spokesman Christian Cardon told reporters in Geneva.

The UN humanitarian agency's spokesman Jens Laerke added: "We need all of them open."

There are promising early indications from countries, including the United States as well as Arab and European states, about their willingness to contribute to the $70 billion cost of rebuilding Gaza, a United Nations Development Programme official said on Tuesday.

"We've had very good indications already," UNDP's Jaco Cilliers told reporters at a press conference in Geneva, without giving details. He estimated that the two-year Israeli war on Gaza had generated at least 55 million tons of rubble.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he will seek the support of Gulf states, the United States and Europe for the reconstruction of Gaza under the new ceasefire deal, and he believed project financing will be provided swiftly.

Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, Erdogan said Western countries' decisions to recognise the Palestinian state should be seen as building blocks of a two-state solution, according to a transcript shared by his office on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that the bodies of four hostages returned by Hamas have been identified, including that of a Nepalese student.

In a statement, the military named two of the victims as Guy Iluz, a 26-year-old Israeli, and Bipin Joshi, a 22-year-old student from Nepal.

The names of the other two hostages have not yet been released at the request of their families, the statement added.

Israel's military said it opened fire on Tuesday to remove a threat posed by suspects who approached its forces in the northern Gaza Strip, and health authorities in the enclave said at least six Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire.

The military said the suspects had crossed a boundary for an initial Israeli pullback under a US-brokered ceasefire plan, in a violation of the deal.

Gaza's local health authority said the Israeli military killed six Palestinians in two separate incidents across the enclave on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he "will decide what I think is right" on a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump made a brief visit to the Middle East to join regional leaders Monday in signing a declaration meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza after two years of war.

Addressing the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump noted "a lot of people like the one state solution, some people like the two state solutions. We'll have to see."

"I will decide what I think is right, but I'd be in coordination with other states and other countries," he told journalists aboard Air Force One.

Around three-quarters of the 193 UN member states recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled Palestinian leadership.

The United States, Israel's closest ally, criticised the decision last month by allies including Britain and Canada to recognise Palestine as a state.

Iran said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's call for a peace deal with Tehran was inconsistent with Washington's actions, referring to its strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

"The desire for peace and dialogue expressed by the US president is at odds with the hostile and criminal behaviour of the United States towards the Iranian people," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

During a Monday speech at the Israeli Knesset, Trump said he wanted a peace deal with Iran and that the ball was in Tehran's court for any agreement to come to pass.

In its statement, Iran dismissed the call.

"How can one attack the residential areas and nuclear facilities of a country in the midst of political negotiations, kill more than 1,000 people including innocent women and children, and then demand peace and friendship?" the foreign ministry asked.

Trump also said "nothing would do more good" for the region than for Iran's leaders "to renounce terrorists, stop threatening their neighbours, quit funding their militant proxies, and finally recognise Israel's right to exist".

Tehran struck back, calling the remarks "irresponsible and shameful" and accusing the United States of being "a leading producer of terrorism and a supporter of the terrorist and genocidal Zionist regime".

"The United States... has no moral authority to accuse others," Iran's foreign ministry said.

Fighting is being reported between Hamas and armed Palestinians accused of being collaborators with Israel in Gaza City's Shujaiyah neighbourhood, as well as near Jabaliya neighbourhood, according to The New Arab's Arabic language sister service Alaraby Aljadeed.

Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli drone strike on Gaza City's Shujaiyah neighbourhood, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which noted that the three were inspecting their homes in the neighbourhood. 

A military source told the Times of Israel that the three were approaching soldiers in the area and that they had fired warning shots prior to the strike.