Israel hands over bodies of 45 Palestinians after Hamas returned the remains of 3 soldiers – New York Daily News
By WAFAA SHURAFA and JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH (AP) — Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians on Monday, Gaza health officials said, a day after Hamas returned the remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the three as soldiers killed in the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
The exchange marked another milestone in the tenuous ceasefire brokered by the United States during the two-year war – the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Since the truce took effect on October 10, Palestinian militants have freed the remains of 20 hostages, eight of whom remain in Gaza.
For every hostage returned, Israel releases the remains of 15 Palestinians. Monday’s return brought to 270 the number of Palestinian bodies returned since the ceasefire began.
Slow identification process in Gaza
Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, told The Associated Press that the 45 freed Palestinian bodies were received at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital around noon.
So far, only about 75 of all the returned bodies have been identified, the ministry said. The forensic work is complicated by the lack of DNA testing kits in Gaza, the statement added. The ministry posts photos of the remains online, in the hope that families will recognize them.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office identified the three hostages returned to Israel on Sunday evening as Capt. Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli, Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel and Colonel Assaf Hamami. A Hamas statement earlier said their remains were found Sunday in a tunnel south of Gaza.
Neutra, an American-Israeli, was 21 when Hamas kidnapped him and the rest of his tank crew on October 7, 2023. In December 2024, the military announced that Neutra had been killed in the attack that started the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he spoke with Neutra’s family, describing their relief and grief. “They were thrilled, in one sense, but in another sense, obviously, it’s not very great,” Trump said.
Daniel, a 19-year-old staff sergeant, was taken from his tank and taken to Gaza, along with three other members of his crew. He is survived by his parents and his twin sister. The remains of others were returned earlier.
Hamami, commander of Israel’s Southern Brigade in the Gaza Division, died early on October 7, 2023, while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim. Hamami and two of his soldiers were killed and their bodies transported to Gaza. Hamami is survived by his wife and three children.
Militants released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has called for faster progress and, in some cases, said the remains were not those of any hostages. Hamas said the work was complicated by widespread devastation.
Arrests of two former soldiers shake Israel
Since Sunday, a political scandal has rocked Israel involving the army’s former legal chief, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. A military official said she was arrested overnight after admitting to leaking a video of Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee and resigning from her position.
The arrests were widely reported in Israeli media. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.
A frantic search was underway along the Tel Aviv beach on Sunday for Tomer-Yerushalmi, after his family raised concerns for his safety and police found his car abandoned along the coast, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. Police said she was found shortly after the search began.
Former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh was also arrested overnight and would appear in court on Monday, Israel Army Radio reported.
Efforts to scale up aid to Gaza and vaccination campaign
The exchange of hostage remains for Palestinian bodies was the central element of the initial phase of the US-brokered ceasefire. The 20-point plan includes the formation of an international stabilization force made up of Arab and other partners that would work with Egypt and Jordan to secure Gaza’s borders and ensure compliance with the ceasefire.
Several countries have expressed interest in participating in a peacekeeping force, but have requested a clear mandate from the UN Security Council before committing troops.
Other difficult questions include the disarmament of Hamas and the governance of a post-war Gaza, as well as when and how humanitarian aid will be increased.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will visit Jordan on Monday and call on Israel to allow more aid to Gaza. She is expected to visit a warehouse where British aid remains stuck waiting to enter Gaza.
Before the visit, Cooper said “humanitarian support is desperately needed and the people of Gaza cannot afford to wait.”
“Following the U.S.-led peace process and plans to substantially increase aid to Gaza, we need an increase in the number of crossing points, an acceleration in the lifting of restrictions and more agencies able to deliver aid,” Cooper said.
Cooper also announced that Britain would provide an additional $7.9 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza, provided by the United Nations Population Fund.
Also on Monday, Gaza’s health ministry announced that a campaign to vaccinate some 40,000 Palestinian children under the age of three against preventable diseases like measles, polio and meningitis would begin next week.
It will focus on children who have not received routine vaccinations or received only partial doses because of the war, Dr. Nedal Ghoneim, public health official at the Health Ministry, told the AP. The exact number of children needing routine vaccinations is unknown due to difficulties in record-keeping during the war, Ghoneim said.
Hamas’ attack on southern Israel two years ago killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The Israeli military offensive has killed more than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government and staffed by medical professionals, keeps detailed records considered generally reliable by independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry and others that it committed genocide in Gaza, disputed the ministry’s figures without providing a contradictory assessment.
Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Renata Brito in Jerusalem; Mélanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Jill Lawless in London and Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.
