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Israel Returns Bodies of Palestinians 11/05 06:04
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Officials at Gaza's largest functioning
hospital said Wednesday that the bodies of 15 more Palestinians were returned
from Israel, as exchanges outlined in last month's fragile ceasefire continued
despite allegations of violations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has transported 285 bodies held
in Israeli custody to Gaza since last month's agreement was brokered, though
health officials in Gaza have said identifying the remains is complicated by a
lack of DNA testing kits.
Israel has not disclosed how many bodies it is holding or where they were
recovered, but has been returning 15 each time the remains of an Israeli
hostage are returned from Gaza.
The 15 were returned to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday a day
after Palestinian militants in Gaza handed over the body of an Israeli soldier
taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war.
The exchanges are the central component of the initial phase of the
U.S.-brokered agreement which requires Hamas return all hostage remains as
quickly as possible. The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas
have accused each other of breaching other terms of the deal.
Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13. The group has since
also returned the remains of 21 bodies. Israeli officials have decried parts of
the process as a violation of the agreement, accusing Hamas of handing over
partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others.
It has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the
remains were not those of hostages.
Hamas has said recovering bodies is complicated by the widespread
devastation in the coastal enclave and has returned one to three bodies every
few days. It has accused Israel of opening fire at civilians and restricting
the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. The number of casualties has
dropped since the ceasefire took effect.
But health officials in Gaza -- who do not distinguish between civilians and
militants -- have continued to report deaths from strikes, while Israel has
said that soldiers have also been killed.
The deal will not move to subsequent phases until all the remains of Israeli
hostages are returned.
The next parts of the 20-point plan call for creating an international
stabilization force. Its makeup hasn't been finalized, but diplomats are
working to define its role, persuade Arab countries to take part, and win wider
international support.
"What we believe is that whatever entity that is created in Gaza should have
the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council," U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres told reporters in Doha on Tuesday.
The fragile agreement aims to wind down the war that was triggered by the
Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251
taken hostage.
Israel responded with a sweeping military offensive that has killed more
than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The
ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical
professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by
independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry and
others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry's figures
without providing a contradicting toll.
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