Israel says the remains of the last hostages have been found in Gaza, paving the way for the second phase of the conflict with Hamas.

Israel said on Monday that the remains of the last hostage in Gaza had been found, paving the way for the next phase of the ceasefire. Israel-Hamas war. The announcement came a day after the Israeli government said the military was conducting a “major operation” in a cemetery in northern Gaza to find Ran Gvili’s remains.

The return of all remaining hostages, alive or dead, was an important part of the first phase of ending the fighting in Gaza, and Gvili’s family had urged the Israeli government not to enter the second phase until his remains were found and returned.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said representatives told Gvili’s family “that their loved one has been identified and is being buried.”

“With this, all hostages have been returned to the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

Israel and Hamas have been under pressure from cease-fire negotiators, including the Trump administration, to enter into the second phase of the US-brokered deal, which went into effect on October 10.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the last hostage. Hamas said it had provided all the information it had about Gvili’s bodies, and accused Israel of interfering with efforts to search for them in Gaza’s areas under Israeli military rule.

Both sides accuse the other of violating the ceasefire agreement since it came into force, and dozens of Palestinians have been killed since October, including three journalists. he was killed in an Israeli strike last week, one of them was working extensively at CBS News.

The Israeli army said about this attack, as it has other deadly incidents during the ceasefire, it said it is investigating, but it said its soldiers beat the suspects who were endangering the security of the soldiers.

In a statement on Monday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the discovery of Gvili’s body, “proves Hamas’ commitment to all the terms of the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including the exchange track and its full termination in accordance with the agreement.”

Qassem called on all negotiators of the ceasefire, and the US in particular, to force Israel “to stop violating the agreement and make the necessary commitments to it.”

The Israeli military said the main operation to find Gvili’s remains was “in the area of ​​the Yellow Line,” which has divided the area since the operation began.

The cease-fire agreement aims to end the war that was triggered by a terrorist attack led by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 71,000 people have been killed in the area during the war, a figure CBS News could not independently confirm and which Israel disputes, although the United Nations considers it the most accurate figure available.

Gvili, 24, a police officer known as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists during the attack.

Before Gvili’s remains were found, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others had been returned to Israel during the ceasefire, most of them. most recently in early December. Israel in turn released the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza.

The next phase of the 20-point ceasefire plan calls for the creation of an international reinforcement, the creation of a viable Palestinian government and the disarmament of Hamas.

President Trump has repeatedly warned that if Hamas refuses to disarm in accordance with the agreement, “there will be hell to pay.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has done it presented his new plan for the International Board of Peaceinviting dozens of nations to join his administration in an ill-defined campaign to end conflicts in the Middle East, and raising ambitions beyond the region.

Although the Peace Board was often mentioned by Mr. Trump as an organization that would focus on the reconstruction of the demolished Gaza Strip, the territory of Palestine was not clearly defined in the charter to establish the board, signed by Mr.

European countries, America’s oldest and closest allies, have so far refused to join the board, and rival superpowers China and Russia have also taken a wait-and-see approach to the process.