A poster bearing a photo of Israeli hostage Tal Haimi is seen as members of the Australian Jewish community participate in a gathering called 'Balloons of Hope', which represents Israeli hostages who are currently being held by the Palestinian group Hamas, in Sydney on October 27, 2023. Photo: AFP / David Gray
There's concern the ceasefire in Gaza is already beginning to crumble, just a day after the US President and Middle East leaders signed a peace deal to secure an end to the war between Hamas and Israel.
Hospitals in Gaza say seven people have been killed by Israeli fire since midnight local time.
In one incident in an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City, the Israeli military said its troops opened fire after suspects approached the ceasefire line and refused to withdraw.
A Hamas spokesman called the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
There are reports Israel will not reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt tomorrow, and will reduce the flow of aid into the territory, after Hamas returned just four of the 28 dead Israeli hostages.
The family of released Israeli hostage Omri Miran (not in frame), one of the former captives in Gaza since the 2023 October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants, watching his handover, on 13 October, 2025. Photo: AFP / Israeli Army
While all the living Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas, it means the wait goes on for the families of the hostages killed.
Udi Goren's cousin, Tal Haimi, was killed during the 7 October attack but his body was dragged into Gaza where it remains.
Since then, Goren has been campaigning for the release of the hostages and the remains of his cousin.
He told Morning Report on Wednesday his cousin was a civil engineer and a family man, devoted to his wife and children.
"His widow has been struggling very bravely in the past two years. She has four kids to raise on her own and was two months pregnant on October 7 .... luckily there's a loving family around her and a very supportive family."
Haimi said this week had aroused mixed emotions for him. He was thrilled the campaign had worked and 24 living hostages had been brought home.
"These people are people that I know, I know their families - I've been shoulder to shoulder with them for the past two years and I'm absolutely happy that the living hostages were brought back and four of the murdered hostages were brought back and their families can find some closure."
On the other hand, his hope that his cousin's body would be returned had been "shattered".
The family had no idea where his body was so there was "an ambiguous sense" surrounding what would happen.
He said he wasn't "blind" to the destruction that had unfolded in Gaza which might lead to difficulties in finding the bodies of those yet to be returned, however, that wasn't his problem as Hamas had set the war in motion with its actions on 7 October, 2023.
"So they need to solve it .... everybody should put all their efforts into making sure these people are found."
Instead, in the last 24 hours Hamas seemed to be intent on executing its rivals, he said.
Fight continues but no need to resume war
Haimi said the fight within Israel to bring all the hostages back home would continue. The first clause in the peace agreement was bringing all 48 hostages home and at this stage, that had not been fulfilled.
"In that case, we need to stall, we need to use every leverage that we have in order to make sure that is fulfilled. I don't think we need to break down the deal. I definitely don't think we need to go back to war, that would be a horrendous mistake."
The pressure would continue to be exerted on Benjamin Netanyahu's government with regard to the hostages, he said.
He hoped that Hamas would honour the agreement "for the sake of its own people".
Both sides needed to respect the deal which was critical for the future of both Israel and Gaza, he said.
"And after that we can start building common bridges based on mutual interests between Israel and the Palestinians."
