Red Cross en route to collect bodies of Israeli hostages from Hamas, Israel says

JERUSALEM/GAZA -- Red Cross vehicles were on their way to a designated meeting point in Gaza late on Tuesday to collect additional bodies of Israeli hostages to be handed over by Hamas, the Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.

"According to information received, the Red Cross is on its way to the meeting point in the northern Gaza Strip, where several coffins of deceased hostages will be transferred into their custody," noted the statement.

Earlier, Hamas had informed mediators that it would transfer the bodies of four hostages later in the night.

A senior Hamas official told Xinhua that the movement planned to transfer four additional Israeli bodies at 10 pm local time (1900 GMT).

The official said Hamas is making "intensive efforts" to locate more bodies and information about them for handover, noting that the retrieval process remains complicated due to the extensive destruction caused by the war in several areas, which hampers search and recovery operations.

The move followed Israel's decision to halt the planned reopening of the Rafah crossing -- a key entry point for aid from Egypt -- and to further restrict humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Israeli officials said the measures were intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 24 bodies after it handed over four on Monday.

Israel and Hamas have exchanged accusations of violating the fragile ceasefire, now in its fifth day, as Israeli fire killed at least six people in Gaza and Hamas failed to return all of the remaining bodies.