The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued an exceedingly rare rebuke of Hamas on Tuesday after the terror group was caught staging the recovery of an Israeli hostage’s remains in Gaza — an incident the Red Cross said amounted to a “fake recovery” that undermined trust in the fragile agreements governing hostage exchanges.

The ICRC said it had been present at the scene in Gaza City’s Daraj-Tuffah neighborhood, where Hamas terrorists buried the body moments before Red Cross staff arrived, only to dig it up again and present it as a newly “discovered” hostage’s remains.

In a statement, the Red Cross said it was “aware” of the footage released by the IDF showing the staged event and that its staff had been “deceived” by Hamas operatives.

“We accepted to be present in good faith in our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties,” the ICRC said. “Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of remains without prior knowledge of the circumstances leading up to it.”

The organization condemned the manipulation in unusually strong terms, warning that such acts risked derailing the already fragile humanitarian coordination that underpins hostage recovery efforts.

“It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones,” the statement continued. “The return of human remains to their loved ones should never be political.”

The IDF drone footage, first reported by Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), shows Hamas fighters removing a white body bag from a nearby building, burying it in a pit, and then re-excavating it moments later as Red Cross representatives arrived.

The IDF confirmed that its reservists documented the full sequence, describing it as “a clear violation” of the agreements under which Hamas is required to return all hostages — both living and deceased — in its custody.

In a letter to Israel’s defense leadership, MK Tzvi Sukkot called the incident “a blatant act of deception,” urging the military to release the footage publicly to expose what he called Hamas’s “propaganda manipulation.”

“This constitutes a blatant violation of the agreement with Hamas, false propaganda, and manipulation of public perception in Israel and abroad,” Sukkot wrote.

According to Israeli officials, the coffin Hamas handed over to Israel later that night contained partial remains of a previously identified hostage, not one of the 13 hostages still unaccounted for. The IDF had already recovered and buried other remains belonging to the same individual.

The ICRC said it is raising its concerns directly with both sides, reiterating that international humanitarian law demands that human remains be treated with dignity and transparency.

“We urgently reiterate our call for human remains to be handled in a dignified manner that upholds international humanitarian law obligations,” the statement read.

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