Israeli defense officials reportedly told US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting on Thursday that Hamas can return the bodies of at least 10 of the 13 deceased hostages still held in Gaza.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and other military officials at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv presented Vance with the IDF’s intelligence assessment of Gaza and “stated unequivocally” that Hamas is capable of returning at least 10 of the 13 remaining hostages, even before international teams enter the Strip to assist with recovering the bodies.

It has been previously reported that Hamas might not be able to find all the dead hostages, something that Israel is aware of.

According to an Israeli official cited by CNN earlier this month, seven to nine bodies might not be retrieved, while another put that figure at between 10 and 15.

Before the ceasefire, Hamas was holding the bodies of 28 dead hostages. It has since returned 15 of them, along with releasing 20........

© The Times of Israel