The families of 24 dead hostages are still waiting to have their bodies returned from Gaza.

Only four bodies were transferred by Hamas to Israel on Monday. It remains to be seen when the remains of the remaining hostages will be handed over.

Here’s what we know about the four hostages whose bodies have been returned, while the families of others who have been declared dead await word from Israeli authorities on the fate of their loved ones.

Gaza latest: ‘Six killed’ as Israeli troops open fire on ‘suspects’

Who are the four hostages whose bodies have been found?

The bodies of Yossi Sharabi, Guy Illouz, Daniel Peretz and Bipin Joshi have been returned to Israel.

The Israeli military has officially identified the bodies of Mr Illouz and Mr Joshi.

The two men were both in their 20s when Hamas took then during the October 7 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

Mr Illouz, who is from Israel, was taken from the Nova music festival, while Mr Joshi, a student from Nepal, was taken from a bomb shelter.

Israel said Mr Illouz died from his wounds while being held captive without proper medical treatment, while Mr Joshi was murdered in captivity during the first months of the war.

What about the remaining hostages’ bodies?

Hamas has said recovering the remaining bodies could take time, as not all burial sites are known. Israeli authorities have said some of those remains may not be located.

The Red Cross said it will take time to hand over the remains of hostages and detainees killed in the war, calling it a “massive challenge” considering 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 Christian Cardon, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

He said it could take days or weeks – and there was a possibility some may never be found.

An international task force will work to locate the bodies of the deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.

What has been the response of hostages’ families?

The Israeli Hostages Families Forum has called for the suspension of the ceasefire agreement, saying “Hamas’s violation of the agreement must be met with a very serious response”.

“We demand all 28 hostages back. We will not give up on anyone, until the last hostage is returned,” it added.

Under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire agreement, all the hostages – including the deceased – should be returned as part of the first phase of the ceasefire.

Read more:
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Songs of celebration in Tel Aviv as crowds greet hostages

Release of living hostages brings pause to two years of war

On Monday, Hamas released all 20 living hostages, bringing a pause to two years of war that has levelled much of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the hostage transfer at public screenings across the country. Tap on their pictures to read more about the hostages:

The hostages were exchanged for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners – including 250 serving life sentences for convictions for attacks on Israelis, as well as 1,700 Gazans detained during the war.

Issues remain with ceasefire plan

The exchange of hostages and prisoners has raised hopes it marks the end of the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.

A second phase of the plan, which all sides have yet to agree on, could see Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.

However, issues remain, such as whether Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza.

Trump calls for new era of peace in Middle East

Mr Trump travelled to the region to celebrate the deal.

He received a rapturous welcome and multiple standing ovations as he addressed Israel’s parliament, though at one point he was heckled by two left-wing politicians who were ejected from the chamber after they interrupted his speech.

“This is a historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Mr Trump told the Knesset.

“Generations from now this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change, and change very much for the better.”

Mr Trump later travelled to the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he called for a new era of peace in the Middle East, saying the region has “a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us”.

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Speaking to world leaders attending the summit, he urged them “to declare that our future will not be ruled by the fights of generations past”.

The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation, with airstrikes and ground assaults devastating much of the enclave and killing more than 67,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but it says around half of those killed were women and children.

Two things can be true at the same time – an adage so apt for the past day. 

This was the Trump show. There’s no question about that. It was a show called by him, pulled off for him, attended by leaders who had no other choice and all because he craves the ego boost.

Gaza deal signed – as it happened

But the day was also an unquestionable and game-changing geopolitical achievement.

Trump stopped the war, he stopped the killing, he forced Hamas to release all the hostages, he demanded Israel to free prisoners held without any judicial process, he enabled aid to be delivered to Gaza, and he committed everyone to a roadmap, of sorts, ahead.

He did all that and more.

He also made the Israel-Palestine conflict, which the world has ignored for decades, a cause that European and Middle Eastern nations are now committed to invest in. No one, it seems, can ignore Trump.

Love him or loathe him, those are remarkable achievements.

‘Focus of a goldfish’

The key question now is – will he stay the course?

One person central to the negotiations which have led us to this point said to me last week that Trump has the “focus of a goldfish”.

It’s true that he tends to have a short attention span. If things are not going his way, and it looks likely that he won’t turn out to be the winner, he quickly moves on and blames someone else.

So, is there a danger of that with this? Let’s check in on it all six months from now (I am willing to be proved wrong – the Trump-show is truly hard to chart), but my judgement right now is that he will stay the course with this one for several reasons.

First, precisely because of the show he has created around this. Surely, he won’t want it all to fall apart now?

He has invested so much personal reputation in all this, I’d argue that even he wouldn’t want to drop it, even when the going gets tough – which it will.

Second, the Abraham Accords. They represented his signature foreign policy achievement in his first term – the normalisation of relations between Israel and the Muslim world.

Back in his first presidency, he tried to push the accords through without solving the Palestinian question. It didn’t work.

This time, he’s grasped the nettle. Now he wants to bring it all together in a grand bargain. He’s doing it for peace but also, of course, for the business opportunities – to help “make America great again”.

Peace – and prosperity – in the Middle East is good for America. It’s also good for Trump Inc. He and his family are going to get even richer from a prosperous Middle East.

Read more:
Trump hails ‘peace in the Middle East’
His team ripped up golden rule to pull off peace plan

Then there is the Nobel Peace Prize. He didn’t win it this year. He was never going to – nominations had to be in by January.

But next year he really could win – especially if he solves the Ukraine challenge too.

If he could bring his coexistence and unity vibe to his own country – rather than stoking the division – he may stand an even greater chance of winning.

One of the most high-profile and influential Palestinian politicians has told Sky News that Donald Trump is now “calling the shots” for Israel – and warned it “doesn’t make sense” to have a Western-led government ruling Gaza or the return of a “British mandate” under Sir Tony Blair.

Nasser al-Qudwa, 72, insisted Hamas should be involved in the territory’s future and that a new structure is needed that would allow a single authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza.

Gaza deal signed – as it happened

It comes after Donald Trump hailed the signing of a peace deal in Egypt on Monday – the first phase of a plan to end the two-year Gaza war, which included the return of all 20 living Israeli hostages.

But there is much in the president’s 20-point proposal for Gaza still to be made real, chiefly a “board of peace” to oversee the creation of a transitional authority. It would be chaired by Mr Trump, who has floated a role for former UK prime minister Sir Tony and does not want a role for Hamas.

Al-Qudwa is strongly tipped for a return to the front line of politics, either within the existing Palestinian Authority or a new framework for Gaza.

Since leaving his role as foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority in 2006, he has served in a variety of roles, including as a diplomat at the United Nations and as head of the Yasser Arafat Foundation.

Al-Qudwa is the nephew of Arafat, ex-chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, who died in 2004 aged 75.

Trump’s proposal ‘doesn’t make sense’

Al-Qudwa has just been welcomed back into the central committee of Fatah, which runs the Palestinian Authority, the governing body of the West Bank.

Asked how he feels about the prospect of an international body ruling Gaza, including both Mr Trump and Sir Tony, he told Sky News: “The Palestinian people do not deserve to be put under international trusteeship or guardianship.

“And definitely it does not deserve to be put on the British mandate again.

“The whole notion that you are bringing a Western land to build a lot in Gaza after all these sacrifices and all this bloodshed, it doesn’t make sense.”

Netanyahu ‘not calling the shots’

Al-Qudwa is a strong advocate for a two-state solution and says the only way to stem the anger of Palestinian youths “is to give them a better life”.

Asked if he was confident Israel would observe the ceasefire and move into the second phase of the Trump plan, Al-Qudwa said: “I don’t trust anybody.

“But, to be frank with you, I don’t think it’s the Israeli leader that’s calling the shots.

“I think it’s Mr Donald Trump. And he has promised that repeatedly.

“It’s going to be difficult because the second phase is going to be more difficult. But I do hope that it’s going to happen because we need it to.”

A role for Hamas

Al-Qudwa wants a new unitary governing body for the West Bank and Gaza “that is organically linked… to ensure the territorial integrity and the unity of the Palestinian people”.

He said under his model, Hamas would be invited to be part of the political landscape. It would be a different form of Hamas – a political party rather than an organisation with a military wing.

“It would be a different Hamas,” said al-Qudwa. “What is missing from the debate is the serious, comprehensive positions. I spoke about ending the role of Hamas in Gaza, ending the control of Hamas over Gaza in all its forms, political, administrative, as well as security, which means the official body needs to have control over weapons.

“And then I think it’s very right to transform into a political party and then participate in the Palestinian political life, including elections under Palestinian law enforcement.”

Despite being closely linked to a future role in Gaza, al-Qudwa, who was born in Khan Younis in the south of the strip, said you would have to be “crazy” to want to work in the territory now.

He cast doubt over the plan to have elections within a year of the war coming to an end, saying it was impossible to imagine how you could hold such a logistically demanding event in a ruined country like Gaza.

Israel’s war in Gaza, launched following the killing of 1,200 people and capture of 251 more by Hamas during its October 7 attacks, has seen more than 67,000 Gazans killed, according to Palestinian health officials. Its figures don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the victims are women and children.

But al-Qudwa pointedly refused to deny speculation about his future ambitions.

Asked if he would be interested in becoming the next president of the Palestinian Authority, after Mahmoud Abbas, al-Qudwa simply smiled.

“There is no vacancy,” he said.

“That’s not a no,” I suggested. “It’s also not a yes,” he replied.