Over the weekend, Hamas returned the bodies of three more Israeli hostages, including Israeli-American citizen Omer Neutra, marking the first confirmed transfers in days and briefly raising hopes that momentum toward completing the long-delayed first phase of the ceasefire agreement might resume. Under the deal, Hamas was supposed to have already released all of the deceased hostages. Instead, it has slow-rolled handovers, withheld remains, and, in at least one case last week, returned partial body parts to a grieving family in Israel to rebury for a third time.
And even this weekend’s step forward came with a grotesque caveat: On Friday, Hamas handed over three bodies it claimed were hostages, only for Israel to reveal they were not hostages at all. This macabre shell game underscores a grim pattern. Every time Hamas appears to comply, it does so only partially, cynically, or in ways that inflict fresh psychological harm.
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These actions are not bureaucratic delays or tragic errors in the fog of war; they are part of a method. Hamas has treated the remains of murdered civilians not as human beings deserving dignity, but as bargaining chips and propaganda props. Its leaders seem determined to squeeze every possible ounce of leverage and humiliation from the families of victims, even when doing so risks shattering a fragile ceasefire.
Last week, Hamas handed over fragments of the body of Ofir Tzarfati, a young man kidnapped from the Nova music festival and buried in 2023. His shattered family was forced to open his grave and rebury him — again. This disgraceful return was staged on camera by Hamas, then delivered in violation of the first phase of the truce. Hamas still holds the bodies of eight hostages, including at least one American citizen.
It was this pattern, coupled with militants opening fire on Israeli troops in a designated safe zone, that led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order strikes across Gaza last week. The message was clear: a ceasefire cannot function if one side treats humanitarian obligations as tactical theater.
As a Palestinian human rights activist, I am appalled. Every time Hamas breaks a ceasefire, it is ordinary Gazans who pay the price.
The release of the final 20 living hostages was an answer to prayer for their families and the millions of strangers who had prayed for their rescue. And yet these innocents were liberated in pitiful condition with tales of horrors.
The returnees have come home in an appalling state, showing signs of starvation and extreme weight loss. Avinatan Or was held in solitary confinement for the entire 738 days of his captivity. Some of the hostages were severely tortured by their Hamas wardens.
Again and again, Hamas has delayed the return of the bodies for a decent burial. Even at the cost of risking the fragile armistice with Israel, as outrage has been mounting, Hamas continues to drag out the return.
Ever since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering over 1,200 in a single day, Hamas has not behaved in good faith during attempts at a ceasefire. The first truce, lasting one week in November-December 2023, was broken by Hamas within minutes of its start with a sneak attack on Israeli forces. Although that initial ceasefire outlasted this incident, it fell apart when Hamas refused to abide by its commitment to release all the female hostages, reportedly fearing that they would disclose the mistreatment they were subjected to in captivity. Hamas breached the truce by launching rockets into civilian centers.
Similarly, during the second major truce in February to March of this year, Hamas returned hostages but only after subjecting them to traumatic “release ceremonies,” placing them in front of jeering Gaza crowds, juxtaposed with Hamas propaganda messages, and giving them humiliating “release certificates” and “gift bags.”
Israelis still remember the parade put on by Hamas forces with coffins containing the youngest hostages it had taken, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, aged just four years and nine months. Next to the coffins, Hamas arranged two missiles with English text saying: “They were killed by USA bombs.” Hamas refused Israeli requests to extend the ceasefire and release the remaining hostages from their ongoing suffering.
Hamas is also conveniently ignoring the proviso in the ceasefire agreement that calls for Hamas to disarm. Hamas hardly seems to be putting its weapons aside, given that Israeli forces have already encountered a large weapons cache, including AK-47s, warheads, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition in a humanitarian shelter next to a United Nations school in Khan Younis — continuing a long-term Hamas pattern of weaponizing hospitals, mosques, and schools for military purposes and turning civilians into human shields.
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Ominously, Hamas has also breached the agreements by turning its weapons on my brothers and sisters in Gaza. Hamas has engaged in armed clashes with local armed groups, which it described as “criminals or collaborators.” Hamas has already engaged in public executions, including those of my fellow Palestinians accused of spying for Israel, and the torture of dissidents. The U.S. State Department has been adamant: Any Hamas “attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
This is not mere retribution; it is a matter of security and moral clarity. If the world allows Hamas to keep its guns and its political power, the cycle of abduction, torture, murder, and spectacle will continue. There can be no normalization, no rebuilding, no humanitarian ribbon-cutting that ignores who wields the knives. Disarmament, accountability, and an end to impunity are the minimum requirements for any lasting peace. Anything less is bargaining with evil, and history will not forgive us for that.
Bassem Eid is a Palestinian human rights activist. He lives in the West Bank.