CAIRO/ ISTANBUL 

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya expressed the group’s determination to hand over the remains of Israeli hostages under the ceasefire agreement and prevent Israel from creating excuses to resume the war in the Gaza Strip.

“We will not give the (Israeli) occupation a pretext to resume the war, and we handed over 20 Israeli prisoners in 72 hours after the ceasefire,” Hayya told Al-Jazeera in an interview on late Saturday.

The first phase of a ceasefire took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10 under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.

Phase one includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Since Oct. 13, Hamas has released the 20 living Israeli hostages and returned the bodies of 16 others, leaving 12, mostly Israelis.

Hayya added that more areas will be searched in Gaza on Sunday to find the remains of Israeli hostages.

Regarding the issue of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, Hayya said the efforts are ongoing to “end the suffering of all of them” despite Israel’s intransigence to disclose many of their names and identities.

“I told [US Special Envoy for Middle East Steve] Witkoff and [Trump’s son-in-law Jared] Kushner during our meeting that we are advocates of stability and that President Trump is capable of restraining the Israeli occupation,” the Hamas leader said.

“We are not satisfied with the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip,” he added.

“Gaza needs 6,000 aid trucks a day, not just 600. The (Israeli) occupation is obstructing the entry of some materials into Gaza as if we were still in the middle of a war,” he said, calling on mediators to intervene to provide the entry of adequate amount of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Regarding the administrative arrangements under the agreement, Hayya affirmed that the Palestinian group has “no objection to any national figure residing in Gaza to manage the Strip.”

“We want to move toward elections as a prelude to restoring national unity,” he added.

Hamas and Palestinian factions agreed that the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza will be run by a UN body, according to Hayya. He reiterated the group’s commitment to a UN peacekeeping and monitoring scheme to oversee the borders and the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza.

Regarding the disarmament of Hamas, Hayya stressed that it is dependent on Israeli existence and aggression in the Gaza Strip. “If the occupation ends, these weapons will be turned to the state,” he said.

Since October 2023, the Israeli genocidal war has killed over 68,000 people and injured more than 170,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.