Israeli military says two coffins said to contain hostages’ bodies cross into Israel

By Billy Stockwell, Tal Shalev and Eugenia Yosef, CNN

(CNN) — The Israeli military said Tuesday that two coffins carrying the apparent remains of deceased hostages had crossed the border into Israel.

“Two coffins of deceased hostages, escorted by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) troops, crossed the border into the State of Israel a short while ago and are on their way to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out,” according to a statement from the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA).

Israel’s Ministry of Health confirmed later that the bodies had arrived at the institute, where teams were working “as quickly as possible” to identify the bodies and investigate their causes of death.

If their identities are confirmed, they will be the 14th and 15th deceased hostages to be transferred to Israel since the US-proposed ceasefire deal was signed on October 9.

Earlier Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office said Israeli forces had received the two coffins in Gaza after being handed over from the custody of the Red Cross in the war-torn territory.

The IDF asked the public to act with “sensitivity and wait for official identification, which will first be communicated to the families of the deceased hostages.”

“Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages,” the IDF said in an earlier statement.

Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said earlier Tuesday that the transfer of two hostage bodies was scheduled to take place.

Before Tuesday’s announcement, Hamas had returned 13 of the 28 bodies of deceased hostages agreed to be released in line with the ceasefire agreement with Israel, the latest of which was identified on Monday as Sergeant Major Tal Haimi.

All 13 of those bodies have now been formally identified.

Under the Trump administration’s ceasefire agreement, Hamas was supposed to return all the living and deceased hostages within the first 72 hours of the ceasefire going into effect. Israeli intelligence has assessed that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza.

Hamas has said “significant efforts and special equipment” are needed to recover the bodies in Gaza. One of the bodies handed over by Hamas under the agreement last week did not belong to an Israeli hostage, according to the Israeli military.

Initial assessments at the time suggested Hamas misidentified the body rather than intentionally sending the wrong one, an Israeli source said.

‘Not going to happen overnight’

The latest hostage release is underway hours after US Vice President JD Vance touched down in Israel and the Trump administration moves to implement the next phase of its ceasefire plan.

Over the weekend, Israel and Hamas affirmed their commitment to the ceasefire deal after Israel accused Hamas of carrying out an attack that killed two IDF soldiers, prompting waves of airstrikes.

Both Hamas and the Israeli military accused the other of violations.

Vance on Tuesday downplayed concerns about the fragility of the ceasefire between the two warring parties but declined to put a timeline on the return of all deceased hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament.

“It is a focus of everybody here to get those bodies back home to their families, so that they can have a proper burial. Now, that said, this is difficult. This is not going to happen overnight,” Vance said at a press conference in Israel.

The US vice president also said some of the deceased hostages are “buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to get them.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Aileen Graef, Adrienne Vogt and Dana Karni contributed reporting.

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