Trump: Hamas must return captives bodies quickly or 'Great Peace countries will take action'

CAIRO – 26 October 2025: US President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Hamas to begin returning the bodies of remaining dead captives held during the ongoing war in Gaza within the coming 48 hours.

He warned in a Truth Social post that “other countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action” if the group does not comply.

“Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.”

While Trump acknowledged that “some of the bodies are hard to reach,” he asserted that “others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their (Hamas) disarming.”

Hamas commended what he called “a very strong PEACE in the Middle East,” adding that he believes “it has a good chance of being EVERLASTING.”

Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with the families of Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, two US captives who remain in Hamas’s possession.

“Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly,” Trump stressed.

Meanwhile, Hamas leader and chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya announced that the group will enter new areas on Sunday to search for the bodies of the captives.

Recovering the bodies of captives taken by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attacks is a key component of the ceasefire agreement that came into effect earlier this month, mediated by Egypt, the United States, Qatar, and Turkey.

In mid-October, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Trump, and other world leaders signed a peace agreement to end the war in Gaza at a global summit hosted in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh, lending strong international backing to the ceasefire.

The agreement includes a prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an increase in humanitarian aid in the first phase, as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan.

Since the ceasefire began, Hamas has handed over all 20 living captives it was holding, along with the remains of 15 others, delivered in several batches, the latest on Tuesday night.

In return, Israel has released around 2,000 Palestinian detainees from its prisons and returned the bodies of nearly 200 deceased Palestinians to Gaza. Many of the recovered bodies bore signs of severe abuse and possible execution.

While Israel maintains that Hamas can immediately return most of the bodies of the remaining 13 captives, the group says the task requires extensive effort and specialized equipment to recover them from beneath the rubble.

Hamas has requested the entry of specialized machinery, DNA testing devices, and medical teams to support the ongoing recovery process.

Sources told Al Qahera News on Saturday that Egypt has provided 'logistical assistance and equipment' to help locate the bodies of remaining captives.

The sources did not provide further details about the type of equipment supplied or clarify whether an Egyptian technical team is taking part in the on-ground operations.

Al-Hayya told Al Qahera News last week that the group remains committed to the ceasefire agreement but is “facing great difficulty” in recovering the captives due to topographical changes across Gaza.

He stressed that Hamas has “no desire or interest” in keeping the bodies of captives inside the enclave and affirmed the group’s determination to “see this file completed in full.”