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Israel has returned the bodies of 30 more Palestinians to Gaza as part of an ongoing exchange deal under a US-brokered ceasefire plan, a hospital told AFP on Friday.
The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis told AFP that “the bodies of 30 Palestinian prisoners were received from the Israeli side as part of the exchange deal.”
The hospital said the bodies were brought to the hospital by the Red Cross after being handed over by Israel, as has been the case in previous exchanges.
Israel sent the remains after Hamas handed over the bodies of two deceased hostages, 84-year-old Amiram Cooper and 25-year-old Sahar Baruch. It marked the first time in nine days that Hamas had transferred the bodies of slain captives. Eleven more deceased hostages are still held in Gaza.
Under the truce, Israel is to return the remains of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli hostage returned by Hamas. Friday’s transfer brings the number returned to Gaza to 225.
Hamas on October 13 returned the final 20 living hostages kidnapped two years ago during its October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Hamas was also required to return the bodies of 28 deceased hostages known to be missing, but released none of them within the initial deadline, and has yet to release 11; on Monday it sent to Israel a casket with partial remains of an already recovered hostage, having staged a fake “recovery” of a body-bag that was videod by an IDF drone.
Israel has accused Hamas of multiple violations of the deal, and has charged that the terror group knows the location of the vast majority, or even all, of the remaining bodies of hostages, and is purposely stalling.
The IDF had conducted a large wave of strikes in Gaza on Tuesday night after terror operatives killed a soldier in Rafah earlier in the day, and after footage emerged of Monday’s staged recovery of the remains of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body had been recovered by the IDF in late 2023.
Gaza’s Hamas-affiliated health authorities reported more than 100 dead in the strikes; the figures cannot be verified and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel announced Wednesday morning that the ceasefire had been restored.
There are 10 bodies of October 7 hostages still held in Gaza, plus one more held since 2014. All are Israeli apart from one Tanzanian and a Thai.
Hamas has so far sent back 15 bodies identified as Israeli hostages and those of two foreign workers — one Thai and one Nepalese — also taken in the October 7 attack.
Alongside government officials who have accused Hamas of breaking the truce, many families of the hostages have demanded tougher action to force the terror group to comply.
Hamas has insisted it is committed to the ceasefire plan but is struggling to find the remaining dead after two years of heavy Israeli strikes, which have reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
Egyptian recovery teams equipped with earth-moving equipment have joined the effort to search for the bodies.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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