A Palestinian looks at the body of 51-year-old Ashraf Khadora, killed in an Israeli strike at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the bodies of 10 Palestinians killed in recent Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, including two newly confirmed fatalities and eight whose remains were recovered. Sixteen injured people were also brought in.
The latest handover followed Israel’s receipt on Tuesday of a body transferred by Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza, one of the last three deceased Israelis held in the territory.
At the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Palestinian groups were holding 20 living Israelis and the bodies of 28 others. Hamas has since released all those alive and returned the remains of 26. In return, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinians from custody and transferred the bodies of Palestinian captives taken from Gaza.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel is required to hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each deceased Israeli returned.
“The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), bringing the total number of bodies received to 345,” the Palestinian ministry said in a statement. The ICRC facilitates the transfers in its role as a neutral intermediary.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the latest handover “reflects Hamas’s steadfast commitment to fully complete the exchange process and its ongoing efforts to finalise it despite significant difficulties.”
The 15 bodies arrived in white body bags at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Mahmud Ashour, spokesman for the forensic evidence department in Hamas-run Gaza, told AFP that 99 of the 345 bodies received via the ICRC have been identified so far.
“We always receive these bodies in a state of decomposition and with facial features missing,” he said. “We also see signs of injuries on the bodies, and we do not know the true circumstances” of their deaths. Families, he added, face “extreme difficulty” identifying the remains.
The ceasefire took effect on 10 October after nearly two years of war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israel has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since the outbreak of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
It has also injured around 170,965 Palestinians, with hundreds of Gazans remaining under the rubble, out of the reach of rescue teams due to widespread destruction and ongoing security risks.
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