Israel's military has said that one of the four bodies it received from Hamas yesterday evening does not match any of the hostages that were in the group's custody.
It added that the Palestinian group is required to make all efforts to return the bodies of the remaining hostages
The other three bodies returned by Hamas yesterday have been identified, their families said following forensic confirmation of their identities.
The families of Ouriel Baruch, Eitan Levy and Tamir Nimrodi, posted statements on social media after Israel's forensic research laboratory confirmed the identities.
The remains were transferred to the Red Cross and then returned to Israel, the latest step in implementing a ceasefire deal after two years of war in Gaza.
"It is with immense sadness and pain that we announce the return of the body of our beloved Ouriel Baruch from the Gaza Strip, after two long years of prayer, hope, and faith," said the family of the Jerusalem resident who was kidnapped on 7 October 2023, at the Nova festival at the age of 35.
Tamir Nimrodi and Eitan Levy's relatives also announced the return of their remains to Israel.
"It is with a broken heart and unbearable grief that we announce that the body of Tamir, my eldest and beloved son, was brought back from Gaza (yesterday)", Tamir's father Alon Nimrodi wrote on Facebook.
Tamir was a soldier captured at age 18 from a military base on the border with Gaza.
Eitan Levy's family announced the return of the remains of the 53-year-old taxi driver who was killed after dropping off a friend at Kibbutz Beeri on the morning of the Hamas attack. His remains were taken into Gaza the same day.
SSGT Tamir Nimrodi was kidnapped alive and was killed while in captivity at the age of 18. Uriel Baruch was killed during the Oct. 7 Massacre and his body was kidnapped into Gaza. Eitan Levi was killed during the Oct. 7 Massacre and his body was kidnapped into Gaza.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 15, 2025
May their… pic.twitter.com/HWWZnie6Lm
Meanwhile, Israeli public broadcaster KAN has said that Israel will allow Gaza's Rafah crossing to reopen for humanitarian aid to enter from Egypt into the Palestinian territory.
"Six hundred trucks of humanitarian aid will be dispatched (Wednesday) to the Gaza Strip by the UN, approved international organisations, the private sector and donor countries," KAN said on its website without citing sources.
The UN and aid organisations have urged the reopening of the major crossing as Gaza faces a devastating humanitarian crisis after two years of war in the territory.
At the end of August, the United Nations declared famine in Gaza, though Israel rejected the claim.
Under the ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas was due to hand over all hostages, both living and dead, within 72 hours of the truce coming into effect on Friday.
While the Palestinian militants did release all 20 of the living hostages it held on time, by yesterday evening it had handed over to Israel the remains of only eight of the 28 dead hostages held in Gaza.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas failed to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.
According to broadcaster Kan, the decision to reopen Rafah to allow aid to pass through was also taken after Israel was informed of Hamas's intention to return four more bodies today, a move not yet confirmed by the militant group.
Mr Trump had suggested Hamas was reneging on its promise to return the dead, and threatened the group with violence.
"If they don't disarm, we will disarm them," he told reporters in Washington yesterday. "And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently."
Watch: Donald Trump says Hamas must disarm or it will be disarmed
Those whose remains were handed over by Hamas on Monday were Israeli citizens Guy Iluz, Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Peretz, as well as Nepalese agriculture student Bipin Joshi.
The Red Cross has warned the search for the rest of the bodies of Israeli hostages in Gaza could take weeks or even months, given the scale of destruction.
The bodies of 45 Palestinians that had been in Israeli custody were handed over to the Nasser Medical Centre in Gaza yesterday, the hospital said.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained the war cannot end until Hamas surrenders its weapons and cedes control of Gaza, a demand Hamas has rejected.
On Monday, Mr Trump proclaimed the "historic dawn of a new Middle East" to Israel's parliament, as Israel and Hamas were exchanging the last 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
Israel's two-year assault has left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins and Gaza City and surrounding areas are suffering from a famine that has afflicted more than half a million Palestinians.
Hamas, elected in Gaza in 2006 and seized the territory in a brief 2007 civil war, has swiftly reclaimed the streets of Gaza's urban areas following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops last week.
Gaza residents said Hamas fighters were increasingly visible, deploying along routes needed for aid deliveries.
Israeli officials have so far refrained from commenting publicly on the re-emergence of the group's fighters.
Palestinian security officials said dozens of people had been killed in clashes between Hamas fighters and rivals in recent days.
In addition Israel, using aerial drones, killed five Palestinians as they went to check on houses in a suburb east of Gaza City, and an Israeli airstrike killed one person and injured another near Khan Younis, Gaza health authorities said.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.
The Israeli military said it had fired on people who crossed truce lines and approached its forces after ignoring calls to turn back.
The ceasefire has stopped two years of devastating waf in Gaza, which was triggered by the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza according to local health authorities, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble.
Gaza's Civil Defence agency said 250 bodies had been recovered since the truce began.
