DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, Red Cross and hospital officials in Gaza said Friday, a day after Palestinian militants returned the remains of two hostages to Israel.
A doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies and said they were all unidentified. The Red Cross said that its teams had facilitated the transfer.
The exchange was the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week that killed more than 100 people following the killing of an Israeli soldier.
Gaza and Israel grapple with latest exchange of bodies
Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric unit at Nasser Hospital, confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday morning that the hospital received the unidentified bodies of 30 Palestinians from Israel.
Photos showed the remains, in white body bags, arranged in rows inside the grounds of Nasser Hospital. Health officials have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.
The return brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel to 225, only 75 of which have been identified by families, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It is unclear if those returned were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war.
The bodies returned had been “torn apart and exhumed,” Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said in a post on X.
“Their flesh had melted, their faces erased by fire, leaving behind only bones and teeth,” he said.
The Israeli military has previously told The Associated Press that all bodies returned so far are those of combatants, a claim the AP was unable to verify. The military has said it operates in accordance with international law.
Al-Bursh said recently that many of the bodies handed over appear to be fighters or others killed during the 2023 attack. Several relatives who have identified the bodies of family members said they weren’t fighters.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Thursday that the remains returned by Palestinian militants had been confirmed as those of Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, both taken hostage during the 2023 attack.
Hamas has now returned the remains of 17 hostages since the start of the ceasefire, with 11 others still in Gaza and set to be turned over under the terms of the agreement.
On Friday a small crowd of Israelis gathered in the plaza known as Hostages Square, praying together for the return of the dead hostages still in Gaza.
“We cannot give up until everybody, all the bodies, will be here,” said Rimona Velner, a Tel Aviv resident who joined the gathering. “It’s very important to the families and for us … to close this circle.”
Warning to Hamas
A senior U.S. official and a second source familiar with negotiations said that in messages passed to Hamas by mediators on Wednesday, Israel warned the militat group that its fighters had 24 hours to leave the yellow zone or face strikes.
That deadline passed Thursday evening, after which the senior U.S. official said “Israel will enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line.” Hamas did not respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, Shifa hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said that one person had been killed by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza. Israel’s military said its troops had fired after the person approached troops in a way that posed a threat.
Government officials from eight Arab and Muslim nations will gather in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the next steps for Gaza, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday.
The talks follow a meeting between the countries’ leaders and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations Security Council, preceding the ceasefire agreement. They mark the latest effort to create an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, outlined in a 20-point U.S. plan.
The ceasefire, which began Oct. 10, is aimed at winding down a war that is by far the deadliest and most destructive of those ever fought between Israel and Hamas.
