Palestinian militants hand over remains of two more hostages to Red Cross in Gaza

Audio By Carbonatix

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Thursday that Palestinian militants handed over the remains of two more hostages, in the latest indication that the fragile ceasefire agreement is moving forward despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week.

The two sets of remains were given to the Red Cross in Gaza, then transported into Israel by troops and taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification, the Israeli military said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said late Thursday that the remains had been confirmed as those of Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, both taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that set off the war.

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.

In return, Israel has returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians to authorities in Gaza without providing details on their identities. It is unclear if they were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits.

Baruch was readying to pursue an electrical engineering degree when he was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri. His brother, Idan, was killed in the attack. Three months into Sahar’s captivity, the Israeli military said he was killed during an attempted rescue mission. He was 25.

Cooper was an economist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was captured along with his wife, Nurit, who was released after 17 days. In June 2024 Israeli officials confirmed that he had been killed in Gaza. He was 84.

Officials in southern Gaza said Thursday that at least 40 people had been injured in overnight strikes, after Israel declared the ceasefire was back on Wednesday morning.

Mohammad Saar, head of the nursing department at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, said it received 40 people wounded in overnight strikes on Khan Younis.

The Israeli army said it carried out strikes on “terrorist infrastructure that posed a threat to the troops” in Khan Younis. The area in southern Gaza is under the control of the Israeli military.

After strikes earlier this week killed more than 100 people, Israel said it was retaliating for the shooting and killing of one of its soldiers in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that Hamas had violated provisions in the deal concerning the handover of remains of hostages.

Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and, in turn, accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for military commanders in southern Israel Thursday, Netanyahu warned, “If Hamas continues to blatantly violate the ceasefire, it will experience powerful strikes, as it did the day before yesterday and yesterday.”

He said Israel would “act as needed” to remove “immediate danger” to its forces.

“At the end of the day, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized. If foreign forces do this, all the better. And if they don’t, we will do it.”

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.

The war was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants, who killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

In the two years since, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 68,600 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and is staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts. Israel, which some international critics have accused of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed those figures without providing a contradicting toll.

—-

Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.

___

Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war