TEHRAN – The New York Times reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could end the Gaza ceasefire and return to the genocidal war against Palestinians. 

The occupying regime's prime minister has been pushing the narrative that Hamas’s continued delay in returning all the bodies of Israeli captives constitutes a violation of the Gaza truce agreement. 

Since the ceasefire began on 10 October, the remains of 15 Israeli captives have been returned by Hamas. Another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza. 

The return of captive bodies was always expected to be a key component of the truce agreement. Prior to signing the ceasefire, Hamas had informed mediators of the significant challenges involved in recovering and returning the bodies. This means the occupying regime’s government was made aware of potential delays and agreed to the truce with the understanding that the handover of deceased hostages could take considerable time.

War criminal Netanyahu is facing mounting pressure from his cabinet ministers to resume the genocide, with some threatening to bring down his government if he refuses. A government collapse would end Netanyahu’s premiership and leave him vulnerable to ongoing corruption charges, as well as intense scrutiny over the intelligence and security failures that led to the October 7 attack under his leadership. 

Under the truce agreement, Hamas was expected to return all remaining living captives by last Monday, a condition it has fulfilled. 

However, the return of the bodies of deceased captives is a much more complicated matter. In many cases, Hamas does not know the exact locations of burial sites. Some captives were held by other resistance groups and killed during Israeli airstrikes, along with those guarding them. 

Additionally, the widespread destruction from the occupying regime’s bombardments has left many areas in ruins, making it difficult to locate, recover, and identify bodies buried under the rubble. 

The Palestinian resistance movement had previously stated that recovering the remaining bodies could take time, as not all burial sites are known.  

Complicating matters further, some bodies may be in parts of Gaza that Hamas is not in control of at the moment. Areas behind the so-called “Yellow Line,” large sections of the Gaza Strip are still occupied by Israeli forces. 

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, says it has returned all the bodies it could reasonably recover and will require special equipment to hand over the remaining ones. 

However, Israeli occupation forces continue to enforce a suffocating siege on Gaza, severely limiting the entry of humanitarian aid, let alone the heavy machinery needed to clear rubble and search for the bodies of Palestinians and captives. 

For Hamas, it is in their interest to return the bodies of captives, as the agreement stipulates that, in exchange, the occupation would hand over the bodies of Palestinians it had kidnapped and murdered during the genocide.

Regional mediators have called on the Israeli occupation to refrain from resuming its genocidal war, warning that renewed violence could undermine the fragile truce. On Tuesday, even U.S. Vice President JD Vance called for “patience” in light of the difficulties involved in recovering the bodies of hostages. “Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” he said.

American officials are aware the Gaza genocide has isolated its staunchest ally in West Asia on the international arena. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) echoed those concerns, emphasizing the immense challenges of locating bodies amid Gaza’s widespread devastation. “That’s an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released. That’s a massive challenge,” said Christian Cardon, an ICRC spokesperson.

The ICRC has previously stated that the recovery and handover of captive bodies could take weeks and warned that, given the scale of destruction inflicted on Gaza, some bodies may never be found.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, affirmed the resistance movement’s commitment to the truce, stating, “We announce our full commitment to the ceasefire and we will monitor the enemy’s adherence to what has been agreed upon.”

While there are clear indications from the Palestinian side of a commitment to the truce, the Israeli occupation continues to operate with a decades-old mindset rooted in war and aggression toward Palestinians and the broader region. For Netanyahu, resuming the indiscriminate bombing campaign to appease a broader Nazi-like Israeli mindset is clearly in his best interests.