By Jimmy Evans
October 16, 2025
The delicate truce between Israel and Hamas continues this week. It started with Monday’s long-awaited exchange of prisoners, with Hamas releasing all 20 living Israeli hostages under the terms of the ceasefire. Since then, Hamas has returned 10 bodies, and Israel’s military identified nine of them as hostages.
There are more. Remember: Israel believes there were 28 total deceased hostages in Gaza before the exchange. That means several bodies have not yet been released—or even located. Hamas insists it has no other hostages.
This will become a major sticking point over the next hours or days. Israel has shared intelligence with the U.S. claiming that Hamas has access to more bodies than it claims, and it’s not doing enough to recover them.
This puts the entire ceasefire into uncertainty. Will Israel resume military operations if Hamas can’t locate any other hostages? We will see.
Here’s a snapshot of what else is happening on the ground:
- In exchange for the earlier hostage release, Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and has returned the bodies of 30 unidentified Palestinians to Gaza. Trump’s deal says that Israel must turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.
- Israel reopened border crossings and has allowed hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The much-discussed Rafah crossing into Egypt will likely reopen this weekend—if the ceasefire remains in place.
- Israeli forces have begun to pull back from Gaza, but this has allowed Hamas to reassert control in some disturbing ways. Soldiers are clashing with armed gangs, and Hamas members have been executing Gazans believed to have collaborated with Israel. Hamas says it is attempting “to restore law and order” following the withdrawal of troops. No one believes that, but their show of force has become a threat to the ceasefire.
- Both sides are accusing the other of breaching the conditions of the peace plan. Israel says Hamas must fully comply with the stipulations about disarmament and handing over deceased hostages. Hamas has reported shootings by Israeli soldiers this week in violation of the ceasefire.
President Trump has said he would allow Benjamin Netanyahu to resume military activities in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t uphold its side of the deal. The Gaza deal won’t move on to the next stage if the hostage remains aren’t returned. “Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word,” Trump said.
Israel does not intend to compromise on the issue of returning the deceased hostages, and the Rafah crossing may not be reopened if Hamas doesn’t fulfill its agreement.
In fact, The Guardian reports:
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has instructed the military to prepare a comprehensive plan to “defeat Hamas” in Gaza if the war is renewed, a statement from his office read. The plan would apply if Hamas “refuses to implement President Trump’s plan, and it becomes necessary to resume fighting,” according to the statement.
Right now, several days into the ceasefire, the area is still in crisis. The violence in Gaza, the refusal by Hamas to disarm, the questions about governance and the slow hostage release process are all putting the brakes on the ceasefire.
Right-wing factions of Netanyahu’s government are already putting pressure on him to abandon the ceasefire because they didn’t like it in the first place. Any perceived breach could cause it to topple.
This is a precarious moment. The stakes are high. All eyes are on Israel. The world’s attempts at peace are always temporary because it will never happen apart from God’s ultimate plan. He is not surprised by these tensions. Human peace plans will never override the prophecies of God’s Word.