Image source, Bring Them Home Now/Reuters

As we've just been reporting, the remains of the two other hostages who were returned to Israel yesterday have now been identified. Here's what we know about the deceased hostages who were released by Hamas:

Daniel Peretz, 22: A captain in the IDF's 7th Armoured Brigade, he was killed in an attack on his tank and his body was taken to Gaza.

Yossi Sharabi, 53: Was kidnapped and held hostage with his brother Eli, whose British-Israeli wife and family - Lianne, Noiya and Yahel Sharabi - were killed in the attack.

Bipin Joshi, 23: The Nepalese national was kidnapped from Israel while working as an agricultural student. A video showed him in captivity in November 2023, and a friend says Joshi saved his life when he threw away a Hamas grenade during the 7 October attack.

Guy Illouz, 26: Was shot twice during the Nova festival attack and died of his wounds after being taken hostage.

Image source, Hostages and Missing Families Forum

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has confirmed the return of the remains of hostage Daniel Peretz to Israel, as part of a group of four deceased hostages handed over by Hamas on Monday.

In a statement, the campaign group says it "embraces the family of Daniel Shimon Peretz following the return of their beloved Daniel to Israel yesterday for a proper burial".

In a separate statement, it also announces the identification of Yossi Sharabi, which was confirmed to the BBC just a short while ago.

It reads: "Yossi's [Yossi Sharabi's] return brings some measure of solace to a family that has live in unbearable uncertainty and doubt for over two years."

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

Image source, Bring Our People Home

The family of hostage Yossi Sharabi has confirmed that his body has been identified after Hamas returned four bodies to Israel last night.

He is the brother of Eli Sharabi, a former hostage freed in February whose British-Israeli wife and family - Lianne, Noiya and Yahel Sharabi - were killed on 7 October 2023.

Yossi Sharabi’s wife, Nira, says they missed him so much and that he was a wonderful partner, a perfect father and a good-hearted person.

“Now we can end the nightmare that started more than two years ago and allow Yossi a respectful and loving burial in the soil of Kibbutz Be’eri that he loved so much" she says.

Eli Sharabi, who was held hostage for 491 days, says his circle had now closed with the return of his brother’s body, as well as the return yesterday of his friend, Alon Ohel, who he was held hostage with.

Eli Sharabi’s brother-in-law, Steve Brisley, from Wales tells the BBC that he feels “relief, happiness and grief all wrapped up in one".

The Sharabi family has called on Hamas to release all the bodies of hostages, as set out in the ceasefire deal.

Reports say that Israel will keep the Rafah border crossing closed on Wednesday after Hamas returned just four of 28 hostages' bodies on Monday.

The crossing is on the border between Gaza and Egypt, and is the southernmost point of exit from the Palestinian territory.

There are only two other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip - Erez, between Israel and northern Gaza, and Kerem Shalom, between Israel and southern Gaza.

The Rafah crossing has largely remained closed since fighting broke out after the 7 October attacks.

In May 2024, the Israeli military announced it had taken "operational control" of the Gazan side of the crossing and closed it.

Eight months later, in February 2025, the Rafah crossing reopened briefly to allow wounded Palestinians to be evacuated for medical treatment.

The crossing is mentioned by name as part of Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan, which states that "opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under 19 January 2025 agreement".

Image source, Reuters

The UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has warned Israel that it must keep crossings into Gaza open in order for "desperately needed" aid to be delivered.

It follow reports that Israel will not open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Wednesday, and will reduce the flow of aid into the territory, in response to Hamas handing over only four of 28 bodies of deceased hostages on Monday.

"We need the agreement to be implemented in full by both sides," he tells the BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen.

"So, that does mean that Hamas has got to get the bodies home, as they promised.

"But it also means that Israel has to keep the crossings open and allow us to deliver the aid that is so desperately needed at scale.

"We can't let this agreement get derailed."

Israel will not reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Wednesday and will reduce the flow of aid into the territory, reports say.

Israeli media and Reuters news agency report that the decision came after Hamas returned just four hostages' bodies on Monday.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas had until midday local time (12:00 BST) yesterday to hand over all hostages to Israel - alive and deceased.

All living hostages were returned, but it is thought the remains of up to 24 others hostages remain in Gaza.

The ceasefire agreement, published by Israeli media, appears to have acknowledged that Hamas and other Palestinian factions may not be able to locate all the remains within the given timeframe.

The next question comes from David, he asks security correspondent Frank Gardner if international journalists will be allowed to enter Gaza now?

"International journalists have not been allowed into Gaza," Gardner says.

He adds there has been pressure from numerous news organisations - including the BBC - to let international journalists in so they can report with their own eyes.

"Very brave Palestinian journalists" have been reporting from the Strip during the war, he says.

Gardner adds that the Israel Defense Forces currently says it is too dangerous for international journalists to enter the Strip.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, based in Istanbul, has been taking us through the latest on the ground in Gaza, as part of a question and answer session over on the BBC News Channel.

He says that the bodies of 45 Palestinians killed during the war and taken by the Israeli military to Israel were returned to Gaza this afternoon.

He says they were taken to Nasser hospital, in the south of the territory. (Earlier, we shared images of Red Cross vehicles arriving in Gaza, which Reuters news agency said was transporting the bodies of Palestinians.)

"There is a real issue in Gaza there is no facility that can make the necessary tests - no DNA lab to identify these people," Abualouf adds.

"We don't know how they are going to be able to handle it."

Our correspondents are continuing to take your questions over on the BBC News Channel - hit watch live above to follow along.

The first question is from Pat, who asks: Would a failure by Hamas to return all the deceased hostages jeopardise the peace deal?

From Jerusalem, Barbara Plett-Usher says this is the "first big test" for the peace agreement, after Hamas yesterday only returned four of the 28 bodies expected to be returned to Israel under the deal.

She adds that it was, however, written into the agreement that it was unlikely all the hostages would be returned straight away as Hamas would require time to find them.

Plett-Usher says there is a taskforce has been set up under the agreement - which includes personnel from Qatar, Turkey and the US, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross - to follow up on this with funding and technology.

She adds that during negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Hamas said that it had more than four bodies - possibly as many as 12.

She indicates that it is not clear whether Hamas might be holding some bodies back as leverage for the second phase of negotiations.

Over on the BBC News Channel, our correspondents Frank Gardner, Rushdi Abualouf and Barbara Plett-Usher are answering your questions on the ceasefire deal and what's next for Gaza.

You can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page.

Phanindra Dahal
BBC Nepali

Image source, Getty Images

Nepalese agricultural student Bipin Joshi has been identified as one of the deceased hostages returned to Israel. The 23-year-old's death in captivity in Gaza was not confirmed until today.

The BBC has been hearing about his heroic actions during the 7 October attack two years ago - that a friend says saved his life.

Joshi had been attending an agricultural programme in southern Israel when his group was attacked by Hamas. Ten students were killed while Joshi was captured.

Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary tells the BBC he survived the attack because of Joshi’s act of heroism.

“At the time of attack, two grenades were thrown near the bunkers," he recalls.

"He [Joshi] picked up one and threw it outside - one exploded inside. Due to that explosion, I and four others were injured. He was unharmed by that time. If both grenades had exploded, I would not have been speaking with you like this."

Chaudhary says “all of Nepal is in grief” after hearing the news of his death, adding that he hopes to visit Joshi's family to pay his respects.

“I returned to Nepal and I am studying at the moment, but his dreams remained unfulfilled,” he says.

Image source, Reuters

Reuters is reporting that a convoy of Red Cross trucks carrying the bodies of Palestinians, who had been held in Israel during the war, has arrived in Gaza.

Crowds of people have been pictured watching on, gathered around fences near to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

The white vehicles are adorned with Red Cross flags as they drive along the battered roads of southern Gaza.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said earlier that officials were poised and ready to take bodies being returned to the enclave.

As a reminder as part of Donald Trump's 20-point plan, Israel agreed to release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans for every Israeli hostage whose remains were released. So far, only the remains of four hostages have been returned - Israel had been waiting for 28.

Image source, Reuters

There were scenes of jubilation in Gaza when the ceasefire deal was announced last week - but instability in the territory remains a few days on.

“That’s the realisation,” Hanya, who is currently staying in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, admits.

“The ceasefire doesn’t magically fix everything. It’s just the first of many steps to recovery," she tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

Under Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, Hamas must relinquish its control of Gaza, but questions remain about the US president’s so-called “Board of Peace”, which is intended to oversee the governance of the territory until it is handed over to the Palestinian Authority - the body which has partial control of the occupied West Bank.

Armed groups have clashed with Hamas security forces in recent days, and Hanya fears a return to “tribalism” where powerful families can “do what they want”.

“I don’t want Hamas to assert control but we need a rule of law, we need someone to take over,” she says. “A vacuum would be a worse offer than Hamas."

Photos have emerged today of workers driving excavators and clearing debris in Gaza City, where the UN estimates that 92% of all buildings are damaged or destroyed.

The city, in northern Gaza, was the enclave's most populous before the war began.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

As Gazans begin to return to their homes, the BBC has been hearing from experts on the challenge of rebuilding the Strip, which has been devastated by two years of Israeli bombardment.

Corey Scherm works at the conflict ecology lab at Oregon State University. He tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that data scans from the European Space Agency show that as of 2 October 2025 just under 199,000 buildings were "likely damaged or destroyed”.

He says this equates to 60.2% of buildings across Gaza.

(Earlier today, the United Nations Development Programme - which is currently assessing reconstruction needs in Gaza - said over 80% of all buildings in the territory were destroyed or damaged).

Meanwhile, city rebuilding expert Philip Bouverat tells the programme that this scale of damage will require around $50bn in funding, and says this money should be channelled into helping Gazans “become part of and own the rebuild of their nation”.

More now from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who tells Parliament that the ceasefire in Gaza "would not have been possible" without Trump, along with the Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish leaders.

He says the UK has offered its full support for Trump's plan and has been "working behind scenes for months" to ensure its delivery and is proud of the British "contribution" so far.

But he also acknowledges that "making that peace last will be no less difficult a task" and that implementing the peace plan "is no small challenge".

Starmer says Britain stands ready to deploy its diplomacy and expertise to support the reconstruction of Gaza - the devastation of which he says "defies description".

He says the UK will also support transitional governance arrangements in Gaza and will work with the Palestinian Authority on reforms.

It will also help ensure the implementation of a ceasefire monitoring process and stands "ready to play a full role" in decommissioning Hamas's weapons and capability, he says.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is giving a statement on the situation on the Middle East in Parliament - you can watch it live at the top of the page.

He starts by saying he's waited a long time to say that the surviving hostages are free, the bombardment of Gaza has stopped, and desperately needed aid is starting to enter.

"We have the chance, and it is a chance, to bring a terrible chapter in history finally to a close," the PM tells the Commons.

Fears delay in returning hostages' remains could derail ceasefirepublished at 13:09 BST 14 October

13:09 BST 14 October

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Fears are growing among Palestinians in Gaza that a delay by Hamas in handing over the bodies of Israeli hostages could derail the fragile ceasefire, after seven Palestinians were killed earlier today in two separate incidents described by Hamas’s civil defence as Israeli attacks.

Many residents tell the BBC they are worried the violence could risk the truce and derail the start of the second phase of negotiations, talks that will determine Gaza’s future governance, the fate of Hamas’s weapons, and the start of reconstruction.

Hamas has not yet issued a formal statement explaining the delay, but a senior Palestinian source familiar with the talks says negotiators are meeting in Egypt to try to resolve the issue.

According to Hamas officials, some of the hostages’ bodies remain trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardment, and the group has requested the entry of heavy machinery to help with the search and recovery.

Tayseer Abed, a well-known Gaza writer who has chronicled the war from his tent in Khan Younis, describes the standoff as “a dangerous test for the ceasefire.”

He writes that the agreement requires Hamas to return 28 Israeli bodies in exchange for 360 Palestinian ones - a ratio of about one to 15 - but Hamas told mediators it had lost nine of them under the rubble caused by Israeli bombing.

He says Israel reacted angrily after receiving only four bodies instead of the expected 20, calling it a breach of the deal.

Abed warns that if the delay continues and Israel refuses to move to the next phase until all the bodies are handed over, “the corpses issue could become the fuse that ignites a new round of conflict".

Yesterday, Hamas released all 20 living hostages being held in Gaza, and Israel in exchange released almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as part of a US-led ceasefire deal.

Here's a look back at the key developments since:

In Gaza

• Gaza's Civil Defence tells the BBC that seven people have been killed by Israeli forces today in two separate incidents - in eastern Gaza and to the east of Khan Younis
• Meanwhile, our Gaza correspondent says fear and division is deepening in the territory following reports of masked Hamas gunmen executing eight Palestinians in public
• Elsewhere, aid agencies - including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef - are urgently scaling up their operations in Gaza
• And the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says over 80% of all buildings in the Strip are destroyed or damaged - while some clearance has began, unexploded ordnance is hampering efforts

In Israel

• The Israeli military has identified the remains of the four deceased hostages returned by Hamas yesterday, naming two of them as Guy Illouz and Bipin Joshi
• The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says it does not want to move on to the next stage of Trump's peace plan until the remaining 24 deceased hostages are brought back to Israel

In the US

• The White House has released the full text of a document signed by the US, Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish leaders yesterday, titled The Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity
• Meanwhile, Donald Trump has reflected on Monday's events as "historic", saying that "nobody thought this was possible"- but sticking points remain, our correspondent in Egypt Hugo Bachega writes

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says it does not want to move on to the next stage of the peace process before all deceased hostages are returned.

"We cannot pass into the path of rebuilding Gaza, going into phase two or three of Trump's framework, until we have all our loved ones back," spokesperson Daniel Lifshitz tells the BBC.

• Lifshitz is the grandson of Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz, both of whom were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023. His grandmother was returned to Israel, but his grandfather was killed and his body returned in February this year

There is an intelligence mechanism between Turkey, Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the US to find the remains, together with information passed on by Hamas, he explains, but says there is "no indication of the timeline yet".

Lifshitz says he has heard from the German foreign ministry and the Qataris that Hamas "knows all the locations" of the deceased hostages.

"We can hope for that. But we have to make sure that some leverage - rebuilding Gaza or anything else - will not be taken until everyone is back home".