Trump hints at 'action' if Hamas doesn't return hostage bodies

The bodies of 13 deceased hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.

Last Updated: October 24, 2025, 10:52 AM EDT

U.S. officials -- including Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- traveled to Israel this week for high-level meetings, discussing the next steps in the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 13 deceased hostages thought to have died during or after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas has said the return of the remaining bodies "may take some time" due to the destruction.

Oct 13, 2025, 5:22 AM EDT

Photos show Trump, Netanyahu meeting

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released photos of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with President Donald Trump at the Knesset.

Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier met Trump at the airport in Tel Aviv.

Oct 13, 2025, 5:12 AM EDT

Palestinian prisoners en route to Gaza

Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons are now on their way to Gaza, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office.

PHOTO: People gather to watch from a hilltop near Ofer military prison located between Ramallah and Beitunia in the occupied West Bank on October 13, 2025.
People gather to watch from a hilltop near Ofer military prison located between Ramallah and Beitunia in the occupied West Bank on October 13, 2025, ahead of the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since the October 7 attacks.
Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images
Oct 13, 2025, 5:11 AM EDT

The final 13 freed hostages are identified

The final 13 hostages who were handed over to the Red Cross on Monday have been identified by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

The office identified them as: David and Ariel Kunio, Avinan Or, Elkana Buhbot, Rom Breslavsky, David Avitar, Eitan Horn, Maxim Harkin, Nimrod Cohen, Segev Kalfon, Matan Tsengauker, Yosef-Chaim Ohana and Bar Kuperstein.

"Their families have been informed by the authorized authorities that they have joined our forces in the Gaza Strip and will soon make their way to Israeli territory," the prime minister’s office said. "The Israeli government, the security establishment, the Coordinator of the National Repatriation Service and the Directorate of Abductees, Missing Persons and Returnees in the Prime Minister's Office will accompany them and their families throughout the entire absorption and rehabilitation process."

Oct 13, 2025, 4:40 AM EDT

13 remaining hostages transferred to Red Cross, IDF says

The 13 remaining hostages expected to be released on Monday were handed over to the Red Cross, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross arrive in the south of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to receive the second batch of hostages expected to be released, on Oct. 13, 2025.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

The IDF and Shin Bet, the Israeli security service, were expected to help escort the 13 out of the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Victoria Beaule

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