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

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

ByKevin Shalvey, Jon Haworth, Emily Shapiro, Nadine El-Bawab, and David Brennan
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.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 13, 2025, 9:20 AM EDT

Freed Palestinian prisoners greeted in Gaza, West Bank

Busses full of freed Palestinian prisoners were greeted in Gaza and the West Bank by jubilant crowds chanting, clapping and waving.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal said 250 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in the custody of the Israeli Prison Service would be released, along with 1,700 residents of the Gaza Strip who were not involved with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, but were arrested after Oct. 7, 2023.

Freed Palestinian prisoners look out of a bus after they were released by Israel as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
A man greets a freed Palestinian prisoner released by Israel as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
Freed Palestinian prisoners look out of a bus after they were released by Israel as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
Freed Palestinian prisoners are greeted after they were released by Israel as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
One of the Palestinian prisoners, who was released in a prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, embraces a boy upon arrival by bus at Ramallah Culture Centre in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, October 13, 2025.
Zain Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images

Oct 13, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT

Released hostages seen arriving at hospitals

Photos show released hostages Eitan Abraham Mor and Guy Gilboa-Dalal arriving at Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Hospital in Israel on Monday after the final 20 living hostages were released from Gaza.

Released hostage Eitan Abraham Mor arrives at Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Hospital, amid a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Petah Tikva, Israel October 13, 2025.
Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

Released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal waves to supporters outside Beilinson Hospital in the Rabin Medical Centre, October 13, 2025 in Petah Tikva, Israel.
Dima Vazinovich/Getty Images

The final 20 living hostages have been identified by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office 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, Bar Kuperstein, Eitan Mor, Alon Ohel, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Omri Miran, Matan Angrest and Ziv and Gali Berman.

Oct 13, 2025, 8:19 AM EDT

Trump: 'We have done the impossible'

As President Donald Trump ended his one-hour-long speech to Israel’s Knesset on Monday, he said, “We have built industries together, we have made discoveries together, we have confronted evil together, we have waged war together, and perhaps most beautifully of all, we have made peace together.”

President Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem, October 13, 2025.
Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump addresses the Knesset, Israel's parliament, October 13, 2025 in Jerusalem.
Evelyn Hockstein/AP

“And this week, against all odds, we have done the impossible, and brought our hostages home,” he said.

Trump’s address was met with frequent applause and standing ovations.
Trump will next travel to Egypt where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi are co-chairing an international peace summit.

Oct 13, 2025, 7:57 AM EDT

Trump: 'Time to translate these victories' into peace in Middle East

President Donald Trump said his speech to Israel’s Knesset on Monday, “Israel has won all that can be won by force of arms. Now, it is time to translate these victories … into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”

“People are dancing in the streets, not just in Israel,” Trump said.

“This long and difficult war has now ended,” Trump said, though only the first phase of a ceasefire agreement has been brokered.

Trump’s remarks were met with frequent applause and standing ovations.

Trump will next travel to Egypt where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi are co-chairing an international peace summit.

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