Israel informs U.S. of difficulties in implementing second phase of Trump's peace plan

Israel told Washington that Hamas isn't doing enough to recover the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, and the Gaza deal can't move into the next phase until that changes, Axios reported.

The agreement stipulates that Hamas must make a "maximum effort" to return the bodies of the 28 dead hostages, among them two American citizens. Israel claims Hamas is not abiding by those terms.

Two Israeli officials said Israel gave the U.S. new intelligence that shows Hamas has access to more of the bodies than it claims.

"We don't see Hamas making maximum effort regarding the bodies. We know they can do more and we don't think anybody should give them any discounts," a senior Israeli official said.

An immediate crisis was averted over the last 24 hours when Hamas returned the bodies of three hostages on Tuesday and another two on Wednesday, bringing the total to nine out of 28.

After Hamas returned those bodies, Israel backed off threats to halve the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza and keep the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza closed. But Hamas now says it doesn't have any additional remains to return, and recovering more will require "efforts and special equipment."

Israeli officials acknowledge that a small number of the bodies will be hard to locate, but claim between 15 and 20 could be quickly returned.