DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas says it will return the body of an Israeli hostage Tuesday, part of last month's fragile ceasefire that has held despite Israeli strikes on Gaza, mounting Palestinian casualties, and mutual accusations of violations.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced it found the body earlier this week in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza. The body will be handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday afternoon, Hamas said on Telegram.
Palestinian militants have released the bodies of 25 hostages since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire started on Oct. 10. Three are believed to still be in Gaza.
The process has been slow, threatening the truce.
Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble from Israel’s two-year offensive in the Palestinian territory. Israel has accused the militants of dragging their feet and threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all remains are not returned.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Tuesday that the delay amounted to a ceasefire violation.
Israel has released the bodies of 330 Palestinians back to Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.
Palestinian officials have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits. Only 95 have been identified, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which is staffed by medical professionals. It maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.
Israel has not provided details on their identities.
Meanwhile, families in Gaza confronted the aftermath of heavy rains, which have left thousands once again displaced and exposed to the elements. The rains have underscored the dire humanitarian conditions millions in Gaza face. Aid has slowly entered Gaza, but organizations like the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have warned that shortages of crucial goods like food and winter supplies still persist, and have called on Israel to ease aid restrictions.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostage. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says 69,775 Palestinians have been killed and 170,863 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed.
The toll has gone up during the ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.
On Tuesday, the health ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces killed three people east of Khan Younis, the latest fatalities among Palestinians since a ceasefire deal stopped the war last month.
The ministry said in a statement that the dead bodies were brought to hospitals along with 14 others recovered from under the rubble over the past 24 hours.
The new fatalities brought the death toll to 345 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 11, the ministry said.
...