Israel prepares plan to resume assault in Gaza if ceasefire collapses

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Wednesday that if Hamas does not demilitarize and return all bodies of hostages it holds, Israel will return to fighting, reported Xinhua.

The threat came on the sixth day of a fragile ceasefire, as Hamas handed over the remains of two more hostages and said they were the last bodies in its custody.

In a statement, Katz said: "If Hamas refuses to comply with the agreement, Israel, in coordination with the United States, will return to fighting and act to achieve the absolute defeat of Hamas, alter the situation in Gaza and attain all the objectives of the war."

In a meeting earlier on Wednesday with the chief of staff and senior military officers, Katz instructed the military to prepare "a comprehensive plan to defeat Hamas" should Israel decide to resume its campaign in Gaza. He said the plan was to be drafted should Hamas "refuse to implement (U.S. President Donald) Trump's plan and fighting needs to be renewed."

Katz added that, under Trump's plan, Hamas is required to return all bodies of deceased hostages in its custody and disarm. He said Israel, together with an international force led by the United States, "would move to destroy all tunnels and terror infrastructure in Gaza to ensure the strip is demilitarized and poses no threat to the State of Israel."

The ceasefire, brokered by the United States, Türkiye, Qatar and Egypt, went into effect on Friday after more than two years of Israeli bombardments that, according to reports, caused famine, left the enclave in ruins, and killed almost 70,000 people, with the United Nations, academic experts and international aid groups warning Israel may have committed genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, Israel on Wednesday night received the bodies of two hostages handed over by Hamas through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister's office said.

The two coffins would be escorted into Israel for forensic identification in Tel Aviv, the office statement said.

The handover came after Israel warned it could further restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza if Hamas failed to release all remaining 28 bodies of hostages.

Israel said that forensic examination found one of the eight bodies handed over by Hamas on Monday and Tuesday was not that of an Israeli hostage.

The return of the bodies and 20 surviving captives took place under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in which Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners.

Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that the group "has fulfilled its commitment to the agreement by handing over all living Israeli prisoners in its custody, as well as the corpses it could access." It said that to recover the remaining bodies would require "extensive efforts and special equipment."