CAIRO, October 24. /TASS/. The Palestinian Hamas movement believes it has fulfilled all obligations under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, the group’s Spokesman Hazem Qasim said.

"Hamas has fulfilled all the conditions for completing the first stage: it has released the living hostages and handed over the bodies of some of the dead. We are currently working to recover and transfer the remaining bodies," he said in a speech, the text of which was released on Hamas’ Telegram channel.

Qasim added that "in order to initiate the second phase of the deal, an additional round of negotiations with mediators will be required," as the second stage "is directly related to issues that demand detailed discussion."

Israel and Hamas resumed indirect talks on stabilizing the situation in the Gaza Strip on October 6, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Turkey. On October 9, the parties signed an agreement to implement the first phase of Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, which came into effect on October 10.

On the morning of October 13, Hamas and other Palestinian groups released all 20 living hostages and handed over the bodies of four deceased in accordance with the Gaza ceasefire deal. The hostages were transferred to the Israeli military through the Red Cross and are now in Israeli territory. However, Israeli authorities voiced dissatisfaction that only four of the 28 bodies were returned in the first stage. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it a deviation from the agreement and warned that any further delays by the radicals would have consequences.

In total, Israel has received 14 coffins from Gaza, and forensic experts have identified the bodies of 13 hostages. According to Israeli sources, Palestinian militants continue to hold the remains of 15 kidnapped victims in the enclave.